The Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service, Mr. Tunde Fowler, on Thursday disclosed that the Federal Government collected N3.9 trillion non-oil tax revenue between January and September this year, representing about N1 trillion higher than the N2.9 trillion collections in the corresponding period of last year.
Fowler made this disclosure in his presentation at the meeting of the African Union High Level Panel on Illicit Financial Flow from Africa in Abuja.
The seasoned tax administrator hinted also that the FIRS had uncovered properties in Abuja belonging to 114 companies that had disclaimed them and on which taxes were not being paid.
He explained that the Abuja Geographic Information System (AGIS) had confirmed the ownership for all the 114 properties’ cases referred to them and that the revenue agency would soon hand the cases over to the Attorney General of the Federation.
On the issuance of tax notification to companies not complying with Company Income Tax, Fowler disclosed that the FIRS had issued 2,672 demand notices, adding that 653 of the companies are now filing their returns, while N2.98 billion has so far been realised from demand notices on Abuja properties.
Speaking at the event, former President of South Africa and Chairman of the High Level Panel, Mr Thambo Mbeki, lamented that $50bn taken out of Africa was stunting the growth of the continent.
He commended the efforts of Nigerian government in the fight for the reparation of funds that had been illegally taken away from Africa, adding that there was a will across the continent for stopping illegal flow of funds out of the continent.
Mbeki said: “We are focused on the need for the continent to generate the resources that are required to attend to issues of development. The continent is losing a lot of resources through illicit financial flows.”
The former South African leader pointed out further that curbing illicit financial flows would not depend on what Africans do within the continent alone, but required also collaboration with other governments and organisations outside the continent.
In her keynote remarks, the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, also highlighted other efforts being made by the Federal Government to stop the illicit flow of financial resources out of the country.
She clarified: “The Federal Government is collaborating with several countries in terms of sharing information on Nigerians who own properties and bank accounts abroad. We also run a programme for the automatic exchange of tax information with the United Kingdom.
“In addition, we have signed agreements on the Multilateral Competent Authority on the Common Reporting Standard, which is a platform for exchange of financial accounts’ information. This will come into effect as soon as the legal framework is finalised.
“We are determined in the fight against illicit financial flows. We are therefore committed to fighting this on all fronts. To aid us in our efforts, it will be appreciated if the HLP will share its experiences in domesticating international best practices in the key sectors of our economy with respect to the IFFs”, the minister added.
Ahmad pointed out that by requiring companies of a particular size to publish operational and tax data for each country in which they do business, governments in Africa would be better equipped to check the incidence of aggressive tax planning strategies.
The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, said that the Federal Government had established institutions such as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC), the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) and the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) to combat the menace of corruption, illicit financial outflows and other related offences in the country.
This is even as the fight against shady financial transactions or abuses in the country was also being pursued through the deployment of appropriate technologies on database information management and legal approaches through the enforcement of the Bank Verification Number and the application of Mutual Legal Assistance law and the Proceeds of Crimes Act.
