FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE AND COMPANIES INCOME TAX OF LISTED COMPANIES IN NIGERIA

Taxes are compulsory levies that are regularly imposed and as a rule, not designated for a special purpose. The study examined the effect of financial performance and companies income tax of quoted companies in Nigeria. The study adopted ex-post facto research design. The population of this study was all quoted financial and non-financial companies which as at 2019 on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) was 173 for the period 2006 – 2020 and the sample size was 30 using stratified sampling technique and quota system. Data were sourced from the annual reports of the sampled quoted companies for the study. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings revealed that financial performance has significant effect on companies income tax of the sampled quoted companies in Nigeria (Adj. R2 = 0.789, F(4, 445 ) = 1594.78, P<.05). Firm size was also introduced as a moderating variable and the results also show that it has significant effect on companies income tax in Nigeria (Adj. R2 = 0.36, F(4, 445 ) = 50.17, P<.05. The study concludes that financial performance has a significant effect on the companies income tax of quoted financial and non -financial firms in Nigeria. The study recommends that the management should pay adequate attention and care to their earnings and net profit by improving on their capital employed to further improve the effective tax rate of their companies and Companies should maintain adequate firm size for their operations as it can enhance their performance and will drive corporate taxes