Twitter, digital platforms to pay tax as FIRS targets N10.1trn revenue in 2022

The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has set a revenue target of N10.1 trillion for 2022.

Mohammed Nami, executive chairman of FIRS, disclosed this on Wednesday when he appeared before the house of representatives committee on finance in Abuja.

Of the figure, Nami said N2.053 trillion is for the federal government while the rest will go to the state and local government.

He said the projected revenue for 2022 is about N5 trillion above that of 2021 because of the registration of social media platforms, including Twitter.

“The total collection that we are trying to generate and remit to the appropriate accounts, including the federation account in 2022, is N10.1 trillion,” he said.

“On the issue of the digital economy, your suggestions are noted, we also have them as part of what we are doing because we already have a department called the international tax department that is handling those cases,” he said.

“Twitter and others are already registering with us, so we are aware. So we expect that the impact of those registrations would be felt positively by FIRS and that is why the targets are going up.”

Speaking on the 2020 budget performance, the executive chairman said FIRS collected a total of N4.950 trillion against budgeted N5.076.

“The service achieved a total revenue collection of N4.950 trillion against budgeted N5.076 trillion representing 98%,” he added.

“Out of the total collection, non-oil and oil components contributed N3.435 trillion and N1.515 trillion respectively. 

“Consequently, the cost of collection (4% net of 2% Nigerian Customs Service NCS VAT) of N130.45 billion was achieved against the budget of N180.76 billion to fund the three operational expenditure heads for the year,” he said.

Reviewing the 2021 budget performance, Nami said FIRS had achieved 43 percent of the projected revenue as of June.

“The service 2021 approved MTEF projected revenue collection was N6.40 trillion representing N1.64 trillion (26 percent) and N4.76 trillion (74 percent) for oil and non-oil respectively,” he said.

“The service as of June 30, 2021 (half-year) achieved N2.762 trillion representing 43% of approved projected revenue collection. The non-oil revenue collection during the period was N2.118 trillion against N1.5 trillion collected in the corresponding period representing 41.2 percent increase.

“While the oil revenue collected for the same period was N644 billion against N971 billion collected in the corresponding period representing 33.68 percent decrease in the oil collection.”