TAXATION OF DIGITAL ACTIVITIES: AN EVALUATION OF THE NIGERIAN APPROACH IN A GLOBAL CONTEXT

Abstract

It is no longer a major news item that economic transactions are being conducted effortlessly online across the globe without any serious hindrance that was hitherto occasioned by geographical location across the globe. This development cuts across almost sector of the world economy: aviation, energy, shipping, commercial retailing, commodities, fashion etc. One of the notable consequence of this development is that both transacting parties and their host governments stand to make more income as a result of the likely increase in volume of expected transactions on the part of the transacting parties and the possibility of more revenue from taxation accruable to the government. Thus this surge in online business has led to a significant development digital economy in many countries. An effective digital economy presents many benefits for developing countries, especially Nigeria with a large population. This article examines the potentials of the Nigerian digital economy vis-à-vis its potential to contribute to generation of income via taxation. It then concludes that Nigeria stands to gain a lot from its growing digital economy but it requires establishment and maintenance appropriate structure and policy in order to maximize the potential benefits derivable from its digital economy.

Keywords

• digital activities;
• taxation;