“Official statistics significantly underestimate divorce rates in Nigeria” – The Economist2 Ex and his lawyers have called for an out-of-court settlement. She has been a teacher for 18 years. I don`t have a pension. I asked for 50% of his pension. We were married for 18 years. It is now about 65k. What is a reasonable agreement that I should ask for, in addition, I want to have the money in advance so that I can start my new life in which I was forced? 4 Chase Peterson-Withorn, “For Richer And Richest: Inside The Billion-Dollar Marriages, Open Relationships And Bitter Divorces Of The Forbes 400,” Forbes, 09.05.2021: www.forbes.com/sites/chasewithorn/2021/05/09/bill-gates-divorce-inside-the-billion-dollar-marriages-most-expensive-divorces-bezos-divorce-harold-hamm-check/?sh=3eddc457da1f (accessed 18.05.2021). According to one commentator: “In the last 50 years, exactly one-third of marriages have been divorced.” See Erin Yurday, `Divorce Statistics UK 2021`, NimbleFins,15.02.2021: www.nimblefins.co.uk/divorce-statistics-uk (accessed 15.02.2021). Any disagreement with income arising from divorce agreements, like all other regular tax disputes, is subject to the tax dispute resolution provisions of the FIRS (Establishment) Act43 (FIRSEA) and PITA, CGTA or CITA. The obvious absence of tax disputes in this area testifies to the fact that there has not been much activity (in terms of robust income compared to taxpayers` commitment) in tax marriage.

For socio-cultural and religious reasons, divorce agreements may be restricted, may not require much formality, or may have other elements that make the tax office not think about entering the arena, influenced by the idea that it must fight. As things evolve, appropriate cases may arise for the Department of Finance`s enforcement response. The fact that this area has remained largely under the radar in Nigeria could be a reflection of the historical situation where divorce statistics were not worrisome and/or traditional methods have been used to deal with it. Statistics attributed to the National Bureau of Statistics indicate that in 2016, “only 0.2% of men and 0.3% of women legally untied the knot.” 46 However, according to one commentator, the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, dissolved more than 200 marriages between March 2020 and March 2021.47 The CGTA does not contain specific provisions on the impact of the spouses` property regime in Nigeria on capital gains (GC).26 However, its general provisions are sufficiently clear to allow the parties: to make their business fiscally efficient. If a person disposes of an asset in an amount greater than the cost of acquiring the asset plus historical maintenance costs, including expenses incurred in defending or establishing ownership of the asset, revaluing the asset or selling the asset, capital gains tax (CGT) is levied on the difference (profits) at a flat rate of 10%.27 Article 2(4) CGTA (in which capital gains tax (in which the second law Finance 2020 (amended FA) 2 2020,28 Section 2) when selling a taxable asset “the transferor must calculate tax, file a self-assessment return and pay the tax calculated on taxable assets sold during the periods no later than June 30 and December 31 of the same year”. 31 Article 37 of the CGTA. The situation is similar in the United Kingdom, as no CGT is created when the spouses` principal residence is sold, in accordance with Article 222 tcGA. However, if the transferring spouse leaves the matrimonial home and thus changes his principal residence, the exemption will continue to be available if the disposition is made within nine (9) months of the end of the transferor`s principal residence in accordance with section 223 of the CPA. See with the SA position, in which spouses who are married in community of property are entitled to the relief of principal residence of R2 million. The relief is distributed equally among them so that they can each claim up to R1 million in untaxed profits for such a sale.

See SA Revenue Service, `Disposal Between Spouses`, 03.05.2021: www.sars.gov.za/types-of-tax/capital-gains-tax/ exclusions-and-roll-overs/disposals-between-spouses/ (accessed 20.05.2021). In the United States, too, there is no complete exemption from the profits of the sale of the principal residence; Instead, spouses can individually exclude the initial gain of $250,000 (a total of $500,000) on the sale of their principal residence under section 121 of the IRC. However, if one of the spouses chooses to buy back the interests of the other spouse and stay in the house, the seller is not obliged to pay the CGT because the sale is part of the divorce agreement. On the other hand, the buyer is required to pay the CGT in the event of a subsequent sale to a third party, subject to the relief of $250,000. However, for an apartment to be considered a principal residence, the transferors must have lived there for two (2) of the five (5) years preceding the sale. See Emily Doskow, “Capital Gains When You Sell Your House at Divorce,” DivorceNet: www.divorcenet.com/ resources/divorce/capital-gains-tax-sell-house-divorce.htm (accessed 20.05.2021). My ex used his pension funds to create an account in my name – I had to close that account to get the money – all those funds had to pay the final divorce deal – and then I had to pay taxes on those funds??? However, for marriages divorced after December 31, 2018, the payer`s support payments are no longer tax deductible and are not recognized as taxable income in the hands of the beneficiary for federal tax purposes: Jessica Menton, (above). It is instructive to note that these payments are still tax deductible, for example, for the income tax purposes of the states and cities of New York and California that have chosen not to follow the federal position. See Heather L. Locus, “Minimising Taxes in Divorce Without the Alimony Deduction,” Forbes, 12.07.2019: www.forbes.com/sites/heatherlocus/2019/07/12/minimizing-taxes-in-divorce-without-the-alimony-deduction/?sh=79aecd38344b (accessed 20.05.2021). See also Matthew A.

Feigin et al., “The Alimony Deduction Lives on in New York. With a Few New Loopholes`, Law.com (Yahoo Finance), 31.12.2018: finance.yahoo.com/news/alimony-deduction-lives-york-few-073025822.html (accessed 21.05.2021). 49 Although the same can be criticized as insensitive and immoral – which in fact exacerbates the trauma of a couple whose marriage has just failed, and perhaps causes the same shame as the “tampon tax” (VAT or sales tax on women`s hygiene products, which is not applicable in Nigeria and the United Kingdom (after Brexit) but still applies in the EU and some states of the United States.