FIRS: Nigerians paid N2.11trn tax in seven months

The federal inland revenue service (FIRS) says it generated a sum of N2.11 trillion as revenue from January to July 2017.

NAN reports that the service made this known in a progress report of the FIRS from January to July 2017, showing their revenue performance and impact of the new tax regime.

A breakdown of the report showed that the FIRS collected N720.28 billion as petroleum profit tax (PPT) and N542.22 billion as value added tax (VAT) revenue from January to June.

It had also collected N679.9 billion as company income tax (CIT) and N91.4 billion as education tax collection.

The report also showed that consolidated tax revenue for the first seven months of the year was N62.3 billion, which already supersedes the N59.8 billion generated from the area in the entire 2016 financial year.

According to the report, the service increased its collection of National Information Technology Development Fund (NITDEF) levy, from N6.75 billion in 2016 to N9.87 in the first seven months of 2017.

The report revealed that the service generated more money from taxes paid by the non-oil sector, which was 65.9% of the revenue contribution than the oil and gas contribution which was 34% of the revenue contribution.

“FIRS have adopted e-services as a medium to achieve innovation, convenience and transparency of its operations to ensure that every effort is made to improve efficiency in collections and tax administrations,” the report read.

“A 45-day window from October 5 to November 2017 was given to tax payers with tax liabilities to come forward and pay 25% of the agreed tax liability, spreading the balance liability while waiving penalty and interest.

“FIRS in collaboration with Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) undertook a massive nationwide registration exercise of new taxpayers in 2016.

“We are also carrying out a sector-by-sector tax audit, which have increased compliance across all tax types and taxpayers categories. Over N8 billion have been recovered through this.

“Also, the voluntary assets and income declaration scheme (VAIDS) encourage voluntary disclosure of previously undisclosed assets and income for the purpose of payment of all outstanding tax liabilities to boost revenue collection.

“All this will help improve the low tax ratio from 6% to 15% by 2020 and curb the use of tax havens for illicit fund flow and tax avoidance.”

The projected revenue in the 2017 budget is N4.94 trillion, out of which oil revenue will contribute N1.98 trillion, which is based on an estimated crude oil production of 2.2 million barrels per day (mbpd) converted at an exchange rate of N305 to a dollar.

Non-oil revenue for the year is projected at N1.37 trillion, which represents about 28% of the budgeted revenue. Independent revenues, various recoveries, and mining will account for the balance of N1.58 trillion.