Buhari on Wednesday signed an executive
President Muhammadu Buhari on Wed find nesday signed an executive order directing Nigerian taxpayers to voluntarily declare and pay tax on their offshore assets. The new executive order No. 8 is tagged Voluntary Offshore Assets Regularisation Scheme (VOARS) and went into effect same day the president signed it. It is still being debated house if such a major tax reform should come in form of an executive order or a proper law, but government says the scheme was set up to help Nigerians to regularise income made outside the country, regularise their offshore assets and tax status, and also ascertain their outstanding tax liability. It is similar to the Voluntary Assets and Income Declaration Scheme (VAIDS) backed by an executive order signed by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo in June 2017—with the offshore assets component marking the only difference between both schemes. Here are some highlights of the new VOARS. DEFAULTING TAXPAYERS TO BE PROSECUTED According t