The Chairman of Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Mallam Mohammed Nami, has projected that that the agency’s total revenue collection in the 2021 fiscal year would hit N5.900 trillion, representing a 16.22 percent increase over last year’s budget target of N5.076 trillion.
Nami , while defending the 2021 budget of the agency before the Senate Committee on Finance, also said in the current year it was estimated that the cost of collection, proposed at 7 percent to take care of the increasing cost of operation and planned expansion of operation for new sources of revenue, would be N289.25 biilion.
The tax administrator further disclosed that the agency recorded improved performance in the 2020 fiscal year with its collections rising to N4.950 trillion against the budgeted estimates of N5.076 trillion.
He pointed out that the collections represented 98 percent of the budget target and that the cost of collection of 4 percent stood at N130.45billion against a budget of N186.76 billion.
He further disclosed that the agency would not be recruiting any staff this year as the manpower now can handle all the operations of the service.
At the budget defence session, the Senate Committee on Finance had stated that the Senate as a whole will consider the possibility of approving an increase in the cost of collection that accrue to the Service from its operation from its present approved 4 per cent.
Disclosing this during the 2021 Budget Defence by the FIRS, Chairman of Senate Committee on Finance, Senator Solomon Adeola, explained that whatever was recommended by his committee would be presented for approval by the Senate in plenary since the committee cannot unilaterally approve the proposed 7 per cent proposed by the chairman of FIRS.
The lawmaker said that FIRS should look at other alternatives of revenue for its operations beyond a blanket increase of cost of collection for its operations aimed at generating increased revenue for the Federal and state government.
