Business and the law

WHAT IS VAIDS ABOUT? On 29 th June, 2017, the then Acting President; Professor Yemi Osinbajo signed into law; a tax amnesty scheme called the Voluntary Assets and Income Declaration Scheme (VAIDS). What the scheme seeks to do in essence is to grant defaulting tax payers an opportunity to declare their untaxed income and assets in the last six years in other for it to be assessed by the tax agency and in return amount due will be paid by the tax payer devoid of any interest or penalties which usually include prosecution in Court. WHAT DOES THE SCHEME MEAN TO THE TAX PAYER? Ordinarily, when tax payers default in paying at due date, the sum will begin to attract interest, but with the VAIDS, all you will be paying is just the principal sum due. Tax payers can take can take advantage of the scheme between 1 st July- 31 st December 2017. This is the interest and penalty free period. From 1 st January 2018- 31 st March 2018, the sum due some will begin to attract interest but ...

When acquiring Lands in Nigeria, whether personally or through a Lawyer, it is important you verify that the title and documents been passed around by the Vendor and ensure its soundness. However before we go into the theme of the post you should first be aware of some recurring words in land transactions. Title: ln land law, title is a bundle of rights in a piece of property  in which a party may own. In this case the right of the person trying to sell the land to you. This right may be legal or equitable interest. For instance, when you rent a house from a Landlord and the tenancy has begun, your Landlord's interest on the property is legal while yours is equitable. Thus it belongs to you during the term of the tenancy. The rights in the bundle may be separated and held by different parties. Thus it is possible for a plot of land held by one Vendor to be sold to different parties. All he has to do is divide the property but the title is one. It may also r...

Irrespective of whether your business is a Sole Proprietorship, Partnership, Corporation or any other  form, if your mission is to lead a value driven and successful business, then you have to pay attention to the structure of your business. Corporate finance basically deals with the decision business managers make in order  to make the business viable and profitable. There are some basic preliminaries that a business has to handle in other to ensure that its foundation is solid. Namely: a) What real asset should the business invest in? Real assets are tangible assets, "touchable" asset that adds value to a business. E.g. Plants & Machinery, Real Estate etc. They derive their value from their inherent qualities; meaning that its quality is in-built, it has nothing to do with outside perception of its worth. b) How will these real assets be paid for? Here the Manager begins to examine where the money to purchase these real assets is going to come from. The...

Basirat O. Mutairu is a law graduate of the Obafemi Awolowo University. She attended the Nigerian Law School, Lagos Campus. She has strong interest in Corporate law, Corporate Finance and Regulatory Compliance. The "businessandthelaw" blogSpot was created as a platform for her to share her knowledge of business and legal information. She hopes contents generated will be useful to every individual, Sole Proprietors and Corporations interested in knowing a little more about the business world. She likes to challenge herself, gain new knowledge and inspires to be a reference in Corporate Culture. When she isn't reading, blogging or binge watching the latest TV series, she is just a simple girl trying to make a difference in the world. You can keep up with her on her LinkedIn profile at linkedin.com/in/basiratmutairu or via email at mutairubasirat@gmail.com