TAX AMNESTY POLICY: Nigerian govt makes $110m from $1bn target

The Federal Government says already it has got $110 million out of its target of $1 billion from the tax amnesty policy.

The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, made this known to State House correspondents after the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting on Wednesday presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.

According to Adeosun, the $110 million was from two companies. She explained that the Federal Government Voluntary Assets and Income Declaration Scheme (VAIDS) was a platform designed to provide tax payers with the opportunity to regularise their tax payments in relation to their previous payments.

“I presented a memo on Voluntary Assets and Income Declaration Scheme for approval for the sum of N1.501 billion to cover the National Advertising Campaign for nine months which is press, radio, online, television including center spreads.

“I also briefed Council on Voluntary Assets and Income Declaration Scheme, VAIDS on tax amnesty, it us very well received.

“We have already started to get declarations from companies who are looking to regularise their tax status.

Specifically, so far we have two companies with $110 million dollars who are ready to declare and pay.

“We have people who are ready to declare and pay. We sent out over 500 letters under the first batch, but there are thousands of Nigerians being targeted but the first 500 letters have gone out to those who we think based on our data are ready to declare their taxes, offering them a window to regularise.

“We have started to get responses back. We are interfacing with state governors where people are asking for time to pay,” she said.

She debunked claims by the National Assembly that only 15 per cent of capital vote in the 2017 budget had been released so far.

“That figure cannot be correct because last year, we released N1.3 trillion. So if you compute that as a representative of the total budget it’s definitely not 15 per cent. It is not correct. So I don’t know where you got that figure but I have to look at the table, I haven’t seen the table to which you are referring.

“What we have released so far for capital since the budget was passed in June is N450 billion. We just raised as you know, another $2 billion to fund this budget and those releases will start going out as from next week,” she explained.

She also used the moment to announce that the Federal government has made ready N421 million to be paid to whistle-blowers for the November batch.
She said, “The whistle-blower policy as you know, the procedure is, once we have obtained final forfeiture, there is what we call a period of waiting and seeing just to make sure that there is no legal challenge to the forfeiture and then we begin to process the payment.

“So Ikoyi Whistle-blower was part of November’s batch, the payment is due to be made, it is ready, it has been approved. “The total batch, which includes the Osborn Road, Ikoyi is N421, 313,595 and this is for the November batch and is ready for payment. The only condition we now need to fulfill is that the money has to be paid to the personal account of the person that who gave us the information. We won’t pay a lawyer or a company, we have to pay the person who signed the agreement.

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“That is the procedure, we are just waiting for the BVN data of that particular one, all the others have given us, the money is ready and approved.

“If we get the Court judgment, you need to give us about three months from the court judgment because we have to wait and make sure there is no legal challenge so that nobody will come back later and say there is a controversy in the money. Every month we process these batches, it is done confidentially, we have to protect whistle-blowers. We also make sure that all applicable taxes are paid ahead.

“We get in touch with the state government where the person lives and we get them to compute the tax and we pay the tax directly and issue a receipt. So nobody can come after the person afterward because that process could also expose the identity and put them at risk. So we built in these procedures to protect the Whistleblower.”

 

 

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