Adeosun asks contractors to provide tax identification number before getting paid

Contractors of federal government ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) must provide their tax identification number (TIN) on their invoices before getting paid for services provided.

Kemi Adeosun, minister of finance, gave the directive in Abuja on Tuesday.

“The order is part of resolute efforts by the government to block revenue leakages by the MDAs’ vendors. About N100 billion has been discovered as tax revenue shortfall by contractors between 2012 and 2017,”Oluyinka Akintunde, special adviser to the minister on media and communications, said in a statement.

According to Adeosun, leakages in revenue remittances by vendors was uncovered by the government’s Project Lighthouse, a systemwide revenue intelligence data-warehouse.

Adeosun said the leakages were due to lack of TIN particularly on value-added tax (VAT), withholding tax (WHT) and other related inflows into government coffers.

“In order to address these lapses in the implementation of the 2017 budget as well as boost the revenue accruable to the government, all MDAs should be directed to insist that invoices submitted by vendors for payments must clearly state the TIN,” the statement read.

“This is to confirm tax compliance by relevant government vendors before payments are effected.”

She said the directive to government vendors is in compliance with the provisions of both the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and Procurement Acts of 2007 respectively.

The minister said spot checks would be undertaken on MDAs to confirm compliance with the directive.