….seek stakeholders’ support for successful exercise
The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and Lagos Internal Revenue Service (LIRS) have issued a public notice on the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by them to establish a Joint FIRS and LIRS Audit and Investigation Team aimed at encouraging the exchange of information between both agencies.
Based on the deal, the parties (FIRS and LIRS) are expected to establish a team to be known as the FIRS/LSBIR Joint Audit or Investigation Team (JAIT), whose membership shall be determined by both parties to conduct a joint audit or investigation exercise which shall be concluded as scheduled.
In the communique issued after the signing of the MoU by the two agencies by the Executive Chairman of the FIRS, Mr. Muhhamad Nami, and the Executive Chairman of the LIRS, Mr. Ayodele Subair, the tax administrators charged the general public, taxpayers and tax practitioners to support and cooperation with officials of the two agencies for the overall economic benefit of all stakeholders.
According to the MoU, the overall objective of the Joint Tax Audit would be to improve tax administration by reducing tax compliance cost thereby enabling ease of doing business in the country.
Commenting on the partnership of the two agencies on the exercise, the FIRS’ Executive Chairman expressed his optimism that ‘’the cooperation would enable the two authorities to work as a team in sharing relevant information that would assist both parties in their tax administration and enforcement roles as it would also provide capacity building between both tax authorities.
“We will carry out a joint audit and investigation as a team, we will also conduct an automatic exchange of information for gathering data for the purpose of tax administration. With that information, we would be able to carry out tax administration seamlessly,” he added.
In his remarks on the MoU, Subair explained that while the importance of the agreement was to foster greater collaboration between the two agencies, “there is no reason to debate the above as it has been established that tax compliance and good governance are expected to co-exist as the indivisible social contract that binds citizens and governments anywhere in the world.
“Therefore, citizens and governments are expected to fulfil their end of the bargain in achieving a balance”, the LIRS’ chairman added.
The communique indicated that while the notice was issued for the information and guidance of all stakeholders in line with the MoU, the collaboration between the two agencies in the area of exchange of information will ensure efficiency, accurate assessments and increased revenue for funding of government expenditures.
Analysts believe that the collaboration between the FIRS and LIRS, the two biggest tax agencies in the country, will improve the nation’s tax administration with a view to enhancing tax revenue generation, creation of a robust database and improve on the country’s tax-to-GDP ratio.
