FIRS Got N97.7 Billion From Tax Defaulters

Nigeria’s tax agency, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), has recorded 97.7 billion naira from tax defaulters since it directed banks to put a lien on their accounts, its Executive Chairman, Tunde Folwer, said on Wednesday in Abuja. FIRS Chairman, Tunde Fowler Source : worldlinknews.com.ng Fowler disclosed this at the 49th Annual Accountants Conference, organised by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), where he presented a paper titled: “FIRS Power of Substitution: Critical Review and Matters Arising”. With the Tax Substitution Programme, FIRS intensified its efforts to collect taxes from defaulting payers, by appointing banks and other financial institutions as collection agents. Using the banks as tax collecting agents, the Tax agency ordered specific deductions from alleged tax defaulters’ accounts and pay the monies over to the FIRS in full or partial payment of the alleged tax debt. The legality of this action by the FIRS is, however, is being questioned in different fora. Fowler, in his presentation, defended the stance of FIRS, stating that he would do whatever was necessary to boost government revenue.The chairman explained that before the FIRS took that stance, it had undertaken tax amnesty programmes such as the Voluntary Assets and Income Declaration Scheme (VAIDS), without much success. He adds that, through the Substitution exercises, FIRS increased tax revenue collection through Special Tax Audit, VAIDs, Special Investigation and the Banking Turnover Initiatives. He further explained that so far, 3,976 out of 44,293 non-compliant companies, had paid about 97.7billion naira. Giving a breakdown of the money recovered, he said that through the Banking Turnover Exercise, the Service recovered 88.59 billion naira, after reaching agreement with 3,797 out of 42,736 companies. He said that 74 out of 406 companies had paid about 4 billion naira under the Special Tax Audit Substitution Exercise. Fowler said that the FIRS realised 3.84 billion naira after reaching agreement with 79 out of 800 companies under the VAIDs Substitution Exercise. The tax chief added that through the Special Investigation Substitution Exercise, 47 out of 351 companies had paid 2.06 billion naira, and cautioned banks against refusing to cooperate or restricting access to specific bank accounts.

He warned that failure to comply would be seen as an act of economic crime to the nation which would compel the FIRS to enforce its rights and apply appropriate sanctions, starting with de-listing of the bank from FIRS collections