The Lagos State Internal Revenue Service (LIRS) has reminded the business community and individual taxpayers on the need for compliance with the March 31 deadline for filing annual tax returns, stressing that the state government has no plan to extend the statutory date.
The agency’s Executive Chairman, Mr. Ayodele Subair, stated this as he advised all individual taxpayers, including self-employed persons and employees under the PAYE Scheme in Lagos State to take advantage of the remaining days in March to file their annual tax returns to avoid payment of penalties, as well as other statutory sanctions, which may include prosecution.
The tax administrator maintained that the obligation to file annual tax returns was stipulated in Section 41 of the Personal Income Tax Act (PITA).
According to him, the provision makes it mandatory for all taxable person(s) to file a return of aggregate income from all sources for the preceding year with the State tax authority in which they are deemed resident within 90 days from the commencement of every new year of assessment.
Subair recalled that that LIRS had over the past three months engaged taxpayers, using various mediums to remind them of their statutory obligations as provided in the Personal Income Tax Act (PITA) Cap P8 2011 (as amended).
He warned that the agency was determined to sanction taxpayers who failed to fulfill their fiscal obligations in line with the provisions of the law.
He expatiated: “Filing of tax returns in Lagos State can only be done on the LIRS eTax portal using: https://etax.lirs.net. It is therefore mandatory for all taxable persons in the State to register on the eTax portal, which is built purposely for the convenience of taxpayers. eTax is easy, convenient and safe.”
Subair further pointed out that as part of the agency’s quest to ease compliance obligations for taxpayers, tax officers had been designated at various tax stations to assist individuals to carry out online registration and filing of tax returns on the e-Tax portal.
