THE INFLUENCE OF DIRECT TAX ON SMALL AND MEDIUM SCALE BUSINESS ENTERPRISE IN NIGERIA

ABSTRACT The study was carried out to find out the influence of direct tax on small and medium scale business enterprise in Nigeria. The study's main objectives are to assess the performance of business enterprise in Nigeria, and also to find out if taxpayers are aware of all theirtax obligations, policies and problems affecting them as well as their business. The study applied both qualitative research designs where interviews and questionnaires were used. Data was collected from tables, pie charts, narrative text and correlation to find out the relationship between the impact of taxes andperformance ofsmall scale business. Atotal of50respondentswereconsideredout oftheentirepopulationofsmall scaleandmedium enterprise, and my findings indicated that the performance of small scale business is affected by stock levels, capital employed, daily expense, daily sales and the average amount of taxes paid annually. Most business owners are aware of taxes paid, uncertain of the mode of assessment, and little assessment is given as regards mode of assessment, collection and tax collectors, inefficiency by tax collectors, loss of equipment, loss of sales andloss of stock as a result of taxes. Based on thesefindings, recommendations are as follows: improvement on the method of collecting taxes, educating the business communityaboutitsdifferenttaxrates,andintroducingaschemethatallowstaxpayersto pay their tax obligation.