Court summons Interior Minister, AGF over proposed expatriates taxation policy

The Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, and the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Mr Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), have been called by the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja to make their case for the implementation of the proposed Expatriate Employment Levy (EEL) taxation policy.

The order was issued by Justice Inyang Ekwo on Thursday.

The ex-parte motion marked FHC/ABJ/CD/1780/2024 was filed by the Incorporated Trustees of the New Kosol Welfare Initiative.

The Minister of Interior and the AGF are listed as the 1st and 2nd defendants in the suit.

The plaintiffs in the case are seeking an interim injunction to restrain the defendants and their agencies from implementing the EEL policy pending when the substantive suit is determined.

Justice Ekwo ordered that the defendants be served the motion within three days before adjourning the case to January 16, 2025.

Recall that the EEL was announced on February 27, 2024.

The Federal government stated that the policy affected companies with expatriates on their payroll.

The provisions of the policy state that companies with expatriates at the director level would pay $15,000 (approximately N23 million) annually and $10,000 (approximately N16 million) for non-director expatriates.

According to the Programme Implementation Coordinator for the plaintiff, Raphael Ezeh, the proposed levy slams strong penalties for non-compliance.

“According to KPMG and other online information analysts and dissemination agencies, the Federal Government intends to compel all companies and organisations who engage the services of foreign expatriates to pay tax E.E.L. as follows:

“For every expatriate on the level of a director — Fifteen Thousand United States Dollars ($15,000.00) equivalent to Twenty-Three Million Naira, by the current exchange rates (NW23,000,000.00) per annum.

“For every expatriate on a non-director level – Ten Thousand United States Dollars ($10,000.00) equivalent to Sixteen Million Naira, by the current exchange rates (N16,000,000.00) per annum,” he explained.

Ezeh, thus, argued against the policy.

“If the defendants are not restrained, they will implement the policy, thereby jeopardizing the nation’s economy,” Ezeh warned.