FIRS Rakes In N13bn From Billionaire Tax Offenders In Nigeria

FIRS Rakes In N13bn From Billionaire Tax Offenders In Nigeria

Barely a month after it commenced its substitution of accounts of recalcitrant billionaires who have not been paying commensurate taxes, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has announced the collection of N12.66 in tax revenue from this category of Nigerians.

This disclosure was made by the Executive Chairman, FIRS, Tunde Fowler, on Friday when he received the new Minister of Finance, Hajia Zainab Ahmed, during her spot visit to the Revenue House in Abuja, according to a statement made available to our correspondent on Sunday.

Fowler told the minister that the initiative had pooled about N12.66bn into the government coffers.

He stated, “The FIRS wrote to all commercial banks in May 2018 requesting for a list of companies, partnerships, and enterprises with banking turnover of N1bn and above. This activity is aimed at ascertaining those companies that are compliant with the tax laws and those that are not compliant. So far, the non-compliant organisations have paid about N12.66bn

“The FIRS will 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.”