Lagos to Shut down Offices of Tax Defaulters Nov 20

Gboyega Akinsanmi

The Lagos State Government has disclosed that some banks have failed to remit their statutory taxes including withholding taxes on interest for more than one decade, thereby warning against tax default and evasion.

Consequently, the state government revealed that it would begin shutting down the head offices of all corporate organisations in the state that had either evaded taxes or defaulted in remitting their statutory taxes from November 20.

The Commissioner for Finance, Mr. Akinyemi Ashade, gave the deadline in a statement Sunday, saying the state government would commence full-scale enforcement against all corporate organisations flouting its tax laws.

In a statement by the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Steve Ayorinde, penultimate week, the state government had lamented the rise in the number of tax defaulters and evaders in the state, thereby directing all its revenue agencies to commence the enforcement of payment by all tax defaulters with immediate effect.

The state government had lamented that 600,000 residents out of 4.9 million taxable residents “are up to date in paying their taxes,” a situation he said was not helpful to scale up provision of infrastructure and other amenities for the people.

Details later…