The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) on Friday reported that it collected N4.3 trillion as tax revenue in the 10-month period ended October 31 this year.
The Executive Chairman of the federal revenue agency, Mr.Babatunde Fowler, gave this hint during his speech at the FIRS’ Special Day at the ongoing Lagos International Trade Fair in Lagos.
Fowler, who said that agency had the potential of surpassing the target set for it in the current fiscal year, said that the FIRS management realized that the N4.3 trillion generated by the Serivce wouldn’t have been possible but for the present administration’s policies of expanding the nation’s tax base and blocking revenue leakages.
He explained: “You may be aware that we have recently focused our attention on businesses with over a billion naira in annual turnover but no record of commensurate payment of their tax obligations; approximately 6000 plus of such companies have been identified and contacted by the Service leveraging on various data sources; we will continue to focus on recovering all such revenues due to the Federal Government and the people of Nigeria.
“We encourage the business community and all well-meaning citizens to continue to partner with us to ensure that defaulters are traced and face the consequences while compliant businesses receive all the support they require”, Fowler added.
According to him, the FIRS is also working hard to ensure that the Joint Tax Board (JTB) and other tax agencies boost the nation’s tax revenue through a combination of strategies that will improve tax compliance at all levels of government and the private sector.
On the agency’s efforts on capacity building, Fowler explained that the FIRs management placed “emphasis on human resources as one of several tools to achieve our aim of expanding the tax net- this is why we recently recruited young Nigerians to support our bid to effectively provide adequate services to all the nooks and crannies of the country.”
