RMAFC recovers N268bn from banks, others in unremitted taxes

The Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) has through various probes it instituted into tax remittances by banks, stamp duty collections, withholding taxes and Value Added Tax, recovered N268bn.

This was disclosed by the acting Chairman of RMAFC, Mr Umar Gana, in a statement issued in Abuja, by the agency’s Head of Public Relations, Mr Ibrahim Mohammed.

Gana, who refuted a press report that the absence of 30 commissioners in the commission had grounded its activities, said that the Act establishing the commission specified that five commissioners were enough to form a quorum.

According to him, while most of the commissioners had vacated their seats following the expiration of their tenures in 2015, the activities of the commission had continued with three probes instituted, leading to the recovery of N268bn within the period.

Gana further disclosed that the RMAFC had successfully carried out verification and reconciliation of collections by banks, where recoveries totalling over N73bn were made, even in the absence of the commissioners.

Similar exercises, Gana said on stamp duty collections and tax liabilities of the three tiers of government on withholding tax and VAT yielded N27bn and N168bn respectively, pointing out that since most of the said commissioners vacated office following the expiration of their respective tenures, their departure had never affected the work of the commission.

According to him, the few members remaining on board had continued to discharge their responsibilities without let or hindrance, adding that the Act establishing the commission explicitly stated that only five commissioners constitute a quorum and that the seven remaining members from the different parts of the geopolitical zones are sufficient to discharge the routine and specific duties related to the statutory mandate of the commission.

He however said the agency was desirable to have all the commissioners in place.

He said the commission, as a member of the Federation Account Allocation Committee and chair of the Post Mortem Sub Committee, had been effectively supervising the disbursement of the statutory monthly allocation, including preparing attribution and indices for the 13 per cent derivation given to oil-producing states.

He further noted that the RMAFC had in 2016 carried out a nationwide monitoring exercise on revenue leakages in the solid minerals sector where potential revenue of 10 out of 50 commercially-viable mineral types of up to N5tn were established.

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