A new report by the Tax Justice Network has revealed that multinational companies and wealthy individuals are exploiting tax havens to evade taxes, leading to an annual loss of $492 billion for the Nigerian government.
The report, part of the Tax Justice Network’s annual State of Tax Justice assessment, highlights the significant impact of global tax abuse on Nigeria’s economy, showing how the country’s tax revenues are severely undercut by these practices.
“Nigeria incurs an annual loss of $383.9 million, arising from profit and tax losses to global corporate tax abuse,” the 2024 State of Tax Justice report stated.
The report reveals that of the $492 billion in global annual tax losses, $347.6 billion arise from cross-border corporate tax abuse by multinational corporations.
It disclosed that of the $492 billion lost to global tax abuse a year, two-thirds ($347.6 billion) is lost to multinational corporations shifting profit offshore to underpay tax and the remaining third ($144.8 billion) is lost to wealthy individuals hiding their wealth offshore.
The total global loss comprises the combined costs of cross-border tax abuse by multinational companies and by individuals with undeclared assets offshore.