FIRS: Nigeria lost N5.4trn to tax evasion by multinationals in 10 years

The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) says the country lost N5.4 trillion to tax evasion by multinationals.

Speaking at a workshop in Abuja on Monday, Muhammad Nami, the FIRS chairman, explained that the revenue was lost between 2007 and 2017.

While commending some multinational corporations for leading in tax compliance in various sectors, he expressed worries that many rich multinational corporations did not pay the right taxes due to them, let alone pay their taxes voluntarily.

To solve this problem, Nami said the FIRS has created 35 additional tax audit units across the country to address the problem of illicit financial flow and improve tax compliance.

“At the FIRS we are paying greater attention to tax audit in general and transfer pricing audit in particular in order to improve the level of tax compliance in the country,” a statement by Abdullahi Ahmad, director of the FIRS communications and liason department, quoted Nami to have said.

“As a result, in the last one year, we have created more than 35 additional tax audit units and deployed experienced and capable staff to take charge of these offices.”

According to a 2014 report by the High-Level Panel on Illicit Financial Flows from Africa, Nigeria accounted for 30.5 percent of money lost by the continent through illicit financial flows.