Fowler goes after 325,000 tax evaders

The Federal Inland Revenue Service under the new leadership of the Babatunde Fowler has revealed that only 125,000, amounting to 27.7 percent of the 450,000 companies in Nigeria pay any form of taxes.
To this end, the service has stated, that it will soon clamp down on the several multinational companies, corporate organisations and individuals who are evading payment of taxes in the country.
This is part of a determination by the federal government to shore up its revenue base, in line with the declining resources from crude oil due to the drop in international prices of the product.
Statistics obtained from the service revealed that about 325,000 companies are evading tax, thus denying the government huge revenue annually.
In the 2015 fiscal year, the FIRS was given a revenue generation target of N4.5tn by the Federal Government and it has so far generated N2.667tn.
But between January and July, findings also showed that the service had collected a total sum of N2.374tn against the target of N2.667trn, thus having a revenue shortfall of N290bn within the seven-month period.
Fowler, in his first official meeting with the management staff of the service, was said to have vowed to ensure that all tax revenue due to the government would be recovered from all tax payers.

Read also: Fowler speaks on plans for tax revenue

He said his administration would not take the issue of tax evasion lightly, as he was aware that some foreign companies that were operating in Nigeria were being investigated in England for evading taxes.
He said, “No country can succeed without taxation. We will make sure that we cover all ground, especially on the corporate level; all tax payers within each state will be covered.
“Those who have found Nigeria a fertile ground; those who have made a living and made profit from the businesses within Nigeria, we ask them to do the right thing.
“We all know the right thing to do. Most of these companies have the big names as auditors yet they keep different records — one set of records for the banks, one set of records for shareholders and one set of records for the tax administrators.
“I think it’s time that that was stopped and I am going to also request that the multinationals should follow our laws and not do things that will contravene the tax laws and I ask them that they should please partner with us and follow the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, especially when it comes to tax payment.”

RipplesNigeria… without borders, without fears

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now