The Value Added Tax (VAT) Administration in Nigeria and the Practice of Estate Surveying and Valuation

Value Added Tax (TAX) is a consumption tax chargeable on the value added to a product in the process of production. Like all other indirect taxes, it is a tax that targets the final consumer of goods and services. The purpose of VAT in Nigeria is to increase governments’ (federal, state and local) revenue from non-oil sector thereby reducing the government’s dependence on oil revenue majorly. This study evaluates the effect of VAT on Estate Surveyors and Valuers practice and their clients. Based on secondary data and personal interviews with eight principal partners of Estate Surveyors and Valuers firms in Ikeja axis of the Lagos metropolis, the study revealed that VAT has a significant effect on the spendable income accruable to the clients of the practising Estate Surveyors and Valuers and by extension the income of the Estate Surveying and Valuation firms since these clients often see the firms as the agents of government being the channels through which government collect VAT on the services they render to clients. The study recommends adequate enlightenment of property owners and by extension all whose goods and services are VATable