The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) on Thursday stated that non-oil tax receipts had consistently contributed 75% to 90% of total tax collections over the past few months.
The FIRS Director, Communications and Liaison Department, Dr. Abdullahi Ahmad, quoted the Executive Chairman of the service, Mallam Muhammad Nami, as disclosing this during a courtesy call on the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, by the members of the FIRS Board.
Nami explained that in spite the national and global economic upheaval caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the service had continued to record significant increase in collectable tax revenue from the non-oil sector of the economy.
According to him, out of N490 billion collected by the service in July, only N52 billion was from oil sector, with the balance accruing from non-oil sources.
Nami attributed the increasing surge in the non-oil sector collections to reform measures being implemented by the FIRS Board and Management as well as the commitment of the employees to the successful implementation of the reform measures.
While commending the minister for her support to the Board of the agency since its inauguration earlier this year, the tax administrator canvassed closer working relationship between the FIRS and the ministry.
In her remarks, Ahmed was quoted as commending the FIRS’ management and board for innovative strategies adopted to mitigate the disruptive impact of COVID-19 on government’s revenue collection drives, adding that this helped in disbursing due allocations to the three tiers of government to from the Federation Account without delay in the past months.
Specifically, the minister listed the Value Added Tax (VAT) and Stamp Duties receipts as key to boosting government’s non-oil revenue and promised to continue to support the management and board of the revenue agency in their efforts to increase revenue generation, through broadening the scope of non-oil revenue collections, for government.
