The Federal Government raked in over N40 billion from Value Added Tax (VAT) source in the first half of the current financial year.
This disclosure was said to have been made by the Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Mr. Babatunde Fowler, during the meeting of the National Economic Council (NEC), presided over by Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, on Thursday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Jigawa State Governor, Abubakar Badaru, gave the hint while addressing State House Correspondents about some of the issues discussed at the meeting.
He said: “We were briefed by the Chairman of the Federal Inland revenue Service, Babatunde Fowler, who said so far, from January to date, about N40 billion was remitted form the states thus, having a significant increase compared to what was remitted last year. The Governors and Finance commissioners of the 36 states were fully briefed on how to boost revenues.”
“The Chairman of the Revenue Service also notified us that there is Value Added Tax that is being collected by the states, where there is an outstanding of about N41 billion, collected from contractors, which he believes the states will have to pay into the coffers of the Federal Government.
“The Council was informed of a new technique and system being put in place to aid an automatic collection of both VAT and withholding tax, as and when the contractors are paid”, Badaru added.
The governor said that the states expressed their willingness to pay the outstanding as well as migrate into the new platform, which will henceforth automatically transmit revenues to the Federal Inland Revenue Service.
