For many who are familiar with Paris, France and who must have visited Du Louvre Museum not too far from the Eiffel Tower, they might also have had a look at the Mona Lisa – a painting by Leonardo Da Vinci – ensconced in the depths of that structure on display. The painting has been depicted in many movies as stolen, burnt or otherwise desired by art connoisseurs and collectors for its sheer beauty. Some how the painting remains where it has been safely mounted for public viewing all these years (over 200 years).
When I therefore read in recent news that our own Monalisa, a Nigerian Nollywood actress, film producer and media personality had been dragged before a Lagos court for tax offences I recalled the famous painting also going by that name. We do not have all the details of her alleged tax offence(s) but I would like to use this posting to help prevent this from happening to others in the same circumstances with her.
Monalisa Chinda is alleged to have failed to file her tax returns with the Lagos State Internal Revenue Service (LIRS) – other details such as for how long, in respect of which assessment year(s)/period(s) on what source of revenue etc are not readily available. What we do know is what is currently in the public domain.
Our Monalisa is a truly gifted actress and her many Nollywood movies bear testimony to her acting talent. One of such movies depicted her as a conniving man-snatcher who succeeded in snaring her prey through the services of a ‘Dibia’ who perfected a concoction she put in the food she sold as a roadside food seller. The target man fell for her charms; as a result of this one movie I would fondly refer to her as ‘Omo oni iresi’ (the rice seller) – but did they live happily ever after? That unfortunately is not the purpose of this post.
In an earlier blog post (‘How to make the Taxman a Business Partner) I wrote – “We unwittingly deny our businesses of these gold gems (capital allowances) as a matter of course because “government cannot show what it has done with the taxes they have been collecting”. Who says your paid taxes have to be tied to specific programs of government and your tax naira traced to it? Sorry, the onus is on you as a citizen to pay your taxes and NOT on government to justify its collection!”
Those who remember the ‘Sanford & Son’ television series of the 70s will remember the comedian Redd Foxx (Pa Sanford) he lost most of all he ever owned to the American Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in 1989 for unpaid taxes. He never recovered from it and died 2 years after that encounter with the IRS.
The situation has not changed, as it has now been made more obvious with the taking to court by the tax authorities of a prominent Nollywood actress. Others may follow if they do not learn from Monalisa’s current travails or Redd Foxx’s. Nigerian tax laws require that you file, at the beginning of each year, your tax returns at the nearest tax office close to where you live.
The steps to follow are:
- Obtain the Form A from a local tax office.
- Complete the Form A (as simple as the data you supply to Google when opening your Gmail account)
- Support the completed Form A with the audited accounts of your business undertaking for the period covered by the returns and proofs of other business/revenue earning related expenditure.
- The auditor’s certification only makes your accounts more readily acceptable to the taxman. It is not fatal to your filing if it is not so certified as long as they are verifiable by other means.
A tax consultant’s ready guidance will take the pain out of this process of tax returns filing for such high profile figures in the media and entertainment. Our experience shows that maintaining accurate and up to date accounting records has been the bane of many of such people. Hence they don’t even bother to file any tax returns until they can no longer avoid doing so.
A simple accounting package such as ‘QuickBooks’ ‘Peachtree’ or ‘Sage’ will solve the records keeping aspect while the actor/actress/singer/comedian makes sure he keeps all receipts/invoices of all expenses. He should also keep the records of wages paid to field & support staff on any of their engagements – drivers, generator operators, cameramen, make-up artists etc.
They could also make it easier for themselves to ease their tax burden by registering their intellectual properties with the Nigeria Copyright Commission and the Trademarks, Patents & Designs Registry Ministry of Trade and Investments, Abuja (copyright/registered trade mark rights). Such registrations will allow them to obtain tax relief on their investments in their movies/songs/shows through amortization of the costs of bringing them to the market.
The taxman can truly be your business partner when you set out to make him one. All partnerships demand utmost good faith from all the parties and doing what your part of the venture demands of you without fail at all times.
