The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has certified corporate entities’ donations to former Minister of Finance’s, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun’s charity organisation, DashMe Foundation, as tax deductible based on the provisions of the Companies Income Tax Act (CITA).
As a result, the revenue agency has issued a tax-deductible donations certificate to DashMe Foundation.
The FIRS issues tax-deductible donation certificates to carefully assessed registered charities whose operations meet Nigeria’s statutory ‘public character’ requirements.
Section 25(c) of the Companies Income Tax Act (CITA) permits companies which make charitable donations to charities with tax-deductible donations certificates to a ‘donation relief’.
The donation relief provision is aimed at encouraging corporate bodies in Nigeria to channel their Corporate Social Responsibilities (CSR) donations to carefully-vetted non-governmental bodies, associations and institutions engaged in life-changing, socially-relevant projects.
In a statement on Sunday, the Foundation confirmed that based on the certification by the FIRS, corporate entities that donate to it would now enjoy donation relief under its new status, which is an allowance to deduct their donations from their taxable profits.
Reacting to the fiscal relief to corporate donors to her organisation, the former finance minister expressed her delight at the FIRS’s tax-deductible donations certificate issued to her entity, saying it is a recognition of the charity’s strides in the past years and its commitment to changing the lives of vulnerable Nigerians.
Adeosun, who recalled that DashMe was recently granted a similar certificate in the United States, added that the approval would energise the charity’s drive to obtain the same tax-exempt status in the UK.
She enthused: “I am delighted that FIRS has recognized DashMe Foundation as being worthy of this rare status. We believe that more corporate bodies will be incentivised to donate to us now that they know that their donations will be fully tax deductible.
“The certificate will significantly enhance our capacity to raise more funds from the corporate sector and also enhance our ability to initiate more life-changing projects for Nigeria’s most vulnerable children, women and other dis-empowered groups”, the former minister added.
In his remarks, the Acting Chief Executive Officer of the Foundation, Tomisin Akinwunmi, also expressed excitement at the funding possibilities that the charity’s new status offers.
“We are thrilled by this development. Our projects are making a huge difference in the lives of people and this certification will encourage us and our partners to do more. We are thankful to the FIRS for providing us with over N200 million in the past year, through its thrift shops, corporate donations drives and snacks business.
Akinwunmi, who disclosed that the Foundation had raised over N200 million in the past year through its thrift shops, corporate donations drives, snacks business and undertaken projects in Borno, Cross River, Imo, Kano, Lagos Nasarawa, Niger, Ogun and Osun States, said were ongoing to extend its operations to all parts of the country by year-end 2023.
DashMe, a Lagos-based charity with operations in Nigeria, the United States and the United Kingdom, was founded by former finance minister, Kemi Adeosun, in June 2021.
The Foundation’s current projects include orphanage building projects in Imo and Ogun states, sponsorship of orphans in universities, provision of prosthetic limbs and start-up capital for amputees, as well as regular food donations to several orphanages and IDP camps.
