The Executive
Chairman,The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) Mr Tunde Fowler, in a
document he had signed and made available to newsmen said it had set specific
strategies to increase tax collection to drive its proposed targets in 2016.
He said that the overall
target was to ensure that Valued Added Tax (VAT) and Corporate Income Tax (CIT)
became the largest contributors to tax collection in 2016.
Fowler said that
“in
ensuring that VAT and CIT contributed more, the service would also ensure that
collection from other taxes were significantly increased, that the strategies
to achieve its targets included ensuring a minimum of 90 per cent compliance
across all tax types and all taxpayer categories. He said that the service
would achieve 90 per cent compliance by increased focus on sector based audits
to ensure that all audit backlogs were cleared and the service would ensure
maximum possible registration of taxpayers and would ensure the use of
technology to block leakages and improve efficiency in collection.
He said that the service
would strengthen tax administration by appointing new sector heads to drive tax
compliance in the identified sectors, to improve performance management and the
service planned to improve in-house capacity building by training and
re-training of staff sectors to improve working relationship with state boards
of internal revenue on data sharing and joint audits.
He said that the service
would increase use of taxpayer education, publicity and enlightenment to
achieve improved compliance.
According to him, the
service had begun extensive nationwide tax audit to enable the service to
ensure strict compliance with the provision of tax laws.
Fowler added that the
service had also planned to carry out extensive nationwide tax compliance in
2016.
He said that the service
had started the pasting of non-compliance stickers on business premises of
identified companies that had not filed and paid taxes for the last six months,
including the newly registered companies.
The chairman said that
more than 24,500 non-compliance stickers had been pasted to date and the
exercise would continue through the year.
Fowler said that
significant drop in oil prices in 2015 fiscal year had led to significantly
lower collection from Petroleum Profit Tax (PPT), adding that the service would
focus on non-oil taxes to meet the shortfall in the revenue collection.
NAN recalled that FIRS
boss in February proposed a revenue target of N4.957 trillion for the service.
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