Housemaid, artisans will now pay tax in Lagos

The Lagos state government on Tuesday announced that it had widened its tax net to include domestic workers and artisans.

Olufolarin Ogunsanwo, chairman of the Lagos State Internal Revenue Service (LIRS), made the announcement at a news conference in Alausa, Ikeja.

He said the new tax regime was in line with the current administration’s inclusion of every resident to the growth of the state.

Ogunsanwo said the agency had commenced the process of overhauling the informal sector with a view to ensuring voluntary compliance by all tax payers.

He said the agency had identified three categories of tax payers in the sector.

According to him, they include market men/women, artisans, micro, small and medium-scale enterprises and domestic staff.

He said these categories of people were expected to remit one per cent of what they earned to government’s coffers.

Ogunsanwo said a directorate had been created in the agency to oversee the sector, while modalities for taxing these categories of people had been worked out.

He said the declining national revenue as a result of the fall in the global price of oil and the need for government to provide and maintain basic infrastructure necessitated the regime.

Ogunsanwo said in addition to the traditional bank portal, new payment platforms, including POS, online and other electronics multi-modal system had been introduced to make it easier for residents to remit their taxes.

He said a review of the tax form A of the personal income tax act had also been conducted.

The chairman said the guide notes would be translated into pidgin and Yoruba for all to understand, adding that disciplinary measures, including outright dismissal had been introduced to check corrupt practices among LIRS staff.

He said a customer care desks would soon be created in all the 38 tax stations within the state to enlighten residents.