Pension Fund Administrators (PFA) in Nigeria incurred a sum of N18.85 billion as income tax in 2021; a 15.6% increase compared to N16.31 billion spent in the previous year; and 31.4% increase when compared to N14.35 billion incurred in 2019. This brings the total tax expenses in the past three years to N49.5 billion, according to a report by the National Pensions Commission (PenCom).
The report seen by Nairalytics- the research arm of Nairametrics, shows that Stanbic IBTC, ARM Pension, and Premium Pensions declared the highest income taxes in the review year, jointly accounting for 70.4% of the total tax expenditure of the industry.
The list under consideration includes 21 PFAs, that were operating as of the end of 2021. Although this list has shrunk in recent times, owing to some mergers and acquisitions, in a bid to shore up their minimum capital requirement to N5 billion as directed by the PenCom.
The PFAs are: Apt (Now merged with Tangerine), ARM, Crusader Sterling, FCMB, and Fidelity as contributing to the tax surge. Others include First Guarantee, Investment One (now GT Pensions), IEI-Anchor (Now Norrenberger), Leadway, NLPC, and NPF. The list also includes Oak, PAL, Premium, Radix, Sigma, Stanbic IBTC, AXA Mansard (now Tangerine Apt), Trustfund, and Verita Glanvills.