The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) at the weekend disclosed that it had recovered N12.66 billion in tax arrears from scores of billionaires who, before a threat by it, had failed to fulfil their tax payment obligations to government.
The recovery came barely a month after the revenue agency commenced its substitution of accounts of the affected tax defaulting billionaires.
The Executive Chairman, FIRS, Tunde Fowler, made the disclosure on the recovered tax on Friday when the new Minister of Finance, Hajia Zainab Ahmed, visited the Revenue House in Abuja.
Fowler told the minister that the initiative had raked in about N12.66 billion into the government coffers.
He explained that the FIRS wrote to all commercial banks in May 2018 requesting for a list of companies, partnerships, and enterprises with banking turnover of N1 billion and above, adding that the initiative was aimed at ascertaining those companies that were compliant with the tax laws and those that were not compliant.
Expatiating further on the Service’s tax recovery efforts and the results achieved, Fowler told the minister that the agency realised N2.983 billion from payment on demand notices from property owners, who were being assessed based on their turnover, and that 653 of 2,672 property owners had starting filing now.
This is even as he confirmed that from enforcement drives, the FIRS had collected a total of N47.5 billion from 2016 till date and $32.8 million, £5.9 million and raked in N225 billion from audit, and collected more than N1 trillion above its January to August collection for last year.
Making further clarifications on the agency’s collections, the tax administrator disclosed that on Value Added Tax (VAT) “ the FIRS has collected N773.49 bn in eight months. The above collected this year has already surpassed that of 2015 (N767.33bn), and is set to surpass that of 2016 (N828.19bn) and 2017 (N972.30bn) with four more collection months left in the year.
“E-stamp duties’ collection is on a steady increase. So far in 2018, the FIRS has collected N10.10bn in eight months. The above collected this year has already surpassed that of 2017 (N10.9bn), 2016 (N5.6bn), and 2015 (N7.1bn)”, Fowler added.
He promised the minister that the agency would continue to implement initiatives that will drive compliance and generate revenue by continuous taxpayer enlightenment; implementation of the Auto VAT Collect in other sectors of the economy; simplification of the tax processes, especially for small taxpayers; strengthening collaboration with other agencies such as the Corporate Affairs Commission, states’ boards of internal revenue; Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment; and the Nigeria Customs Service.
In her response, the minister commended the agency for raising the non-oil revenue, saying, her ministry will continue to collaborate with the FIRS to support all the efforts that it is making, harping on the need for the agency to be interfacing with the Ministry of Finance more frequently.
Ahmed said that the directive she was given by the government is to increase the tax revenue and that that is the most important task ahead of all in the revenue collection business.
While commending the leadership of the FIRS on the agency’s performance, Ahmed urged the FIRS to maintain the revenue generation drive to support the government, charging further that all government agencies must work together to detect and expose all corrupt persons in the country.
The minister said: “The FIRS is a very important agency of government. I want to underscore this importance. The FIRS is one of the first agencies in the Ministry of Finance that I am meeting. The Federal Government’s Medium Term Plan is hinged on diversifying the economy away from oil revenues to non-oil revenues. And the report that the executive chairman of the “FIRS has presented indicates that the diversification effort is working. This is reflected in the contribution of non-oil revenues over the last three years.
“I am happy that we have a team in the FIRS that is not only expanding the revenue base, but also significantly improving tax collection and taking tax offices closer to the people, and making it easier for the people to pay their taxes by online and e-tax payment procedures that you have undertaken. And I am sure, from what I have heard today, that you would continue with all these processes.
“I am also glad that you are increasing cooperation with several agencies like the EFCC, ICPC and Nigeria Customs Service. This is important because the directive from the President on anti-corruption involves cooperation within yourselves as well as with anti-corruption agencies. It makes a lot of sense to prioritise tax collection to larger categories, from the big ones to other ones.
“The effort you are making in Abuja, Lagos and Osun (on payment of taxes on property using turnover as basis for assessment) is a commendable one and I encourage you to maintain the tempo in generating tax revenues”, Ahmed added.
She pointed out also that the country needed to continue with the efforts to strengthen the non-oil sector, adding that the part that the FIRS should play is to continue with its efforts so that the non-oil sector’s revenue would grow on sustainable basis.
