FIRS’ oil tax revenue falls short of projection, nets N2.03 trillion

In the first half of 2023, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) generated N5.5 trillion in tax revenue from the oil and non-oil sectors.

However, according to a report released by the tax agency on Thursday, Ripples Nigeria gathered that the FIRS failed to meet its oil sector tax revenue projection of N2.3 trillion, as it fell short of the projection by N297 billion.

The tax revenue from the oil sector fetched the FIRS N2.03 trillion, Johannes Wojuola, the special assistant on media and communication to the chairman of FIRS, said.

Non-oil sector tax revenue was N3.76 trillion, which is higher than the N2.98 trillion tax revenue Wojuola said the FIRS had projected for H1.

“Tax revenue collected from the oil sector from January to June 2023, stood at N2.03 trillion, as against a target of N2.3 trillion; while non-oil tax collection stood at N3.76 trillion, as against a target of N2.98 trillion,” he disclosed in the report.

Wojuola also stated: “The service collected a total of N1.65 trillion tax revenues in June 2023. This sum is the highest tax revenue collected by the service in any single month.”

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Speaking on the N5.5 trillion tax revenue, which is the highest first-half tax revenue collected in the history of FIRS, the agency’s executive chairman, Muhammad Nami, said FIRS has had a good start, and the second-half tax revenue will be better.

“This is a good head start as we work towards meeting our target for the year. And it was achieved despite stubborn headwinds such as the impact of the currency redesign and the 2023 general elections on the economy in the first and second quarters of 2023.

“This half-year performance was achieved as a result of improved voluntary tax compliance by taxpayers, the continued improvement of automation of our tax administration processes, including the updated VAT filing processes; as well as our dogged engagement with stakeholders in both the formal and informal sectors of the economy.

“We believe that the performance in the second half of the year would be better considering the continuing improvement to our tax administration processes and positive impact of the current government’s policies on the economy,” the FIRS chief said.

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