Tax Reforms: FIRS Boss in Senate, Allays Investors’ Fears

•Says new taxes won’t be introduced 

•FCT-IRS, NFIU to collaborate on tax compliance

Olawale Ajimotokan and Sunday Aborisade in Abuja

The Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Zacch Adedeji, has allayed fears of possible introduction of new taxes through the proposed tax reform laws recently unfolded by the agency, being expressed by Nigerians, especially investors.

This comes as the Acting Executive Chairman of the Federal Capital Territory Internal Revenue Service (FCT-IRS), Michael Ango, proposed a robust partnership with the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) to enhance tax compliance in the FCT.

Adedeji, spoke at an interactive session with members of the Senate Committee on Finance in Abuja, yesterday, on the four bills transmitted to the National Assembly by President Bola Tinubu, containing the reforms.

He, specifically assured Nigerians that the tax reform laws would not entail the introduction of new taxes or increase the already existing ones.

He said, “Tax reform bills will not introduce taxes or increase percentage of existing ones, but reduce the number of taxes being paid by Nigerians.

“No agency will be merged in the process of carrying out the reform and no job will be taken from anybody.

“The tax reform seeks to increase simplicity and efficiency of tax administration in Nigeria,” he said.

He further allayed fears of Nigerians that the existing tax policies introduced by President Bola Tinubu were not meant to tax poverty but prosperity, fruits and not seeds, returns, and not investments.

He added, “The four bills are, the Nigeria Tax Bill; Nigeria Tax Administration Act (amendment) bill; Nigeria Revenue Service Bill, and the Joint Revenue Board (establishment) bill.

“When passed into law the would among others, help to harmonise the multiple tax laws in the country.

“They will drive efficiency and modernisation; simplify tax laws and ensure synergy among agencies involved.

“They will increase efficiency and effectiveness in government savings, promote transparency and integrity in revenue collection, align with international standards, broaden Nigeria’s tax base, among others.”

When asked to explain why the FIRS as contained in one of the bills, would be changed to the  Nigeria Revenue Service  (NRS), Adedeji said the present name of the agency does not cover the scope of its services.

For instance, he said like the Value Added Tax (VAT), 85 per cent of it was being remitted to states while the federal government gets the remaining 15 per cent.

In his remarks , the Chairman of the Committee, Senator Sani Musa (APC Niger East), said the purpose of the interactive session was to be updated by the FIRS boss on what the tax reform bills were aiming at.

He commended the FIRS boss for meeting up with revenue targets set in the fiscal year but also urged him, to go beyond the target.

“I believe that Nigeria  is now getting it right in the area of taxation. I believe that when we strengthen it, we’ll be able to make more revenues. In return, we’ll be able to have more developments, especially in our infrastructure,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Acting Executive Chairman of the Federal Capital Territory, Ango has proposed a robust partnership with the NFIU to enhance tax compliance in the FCT.

He made the call yesterday when he paid a courtesy visit to the Chief Executive Officer of the NFIU, Hajiya Hafsa Abubakar.

Ango, described NFIU as a strategic partner, adding the visit would strengthen the existing collaboration for the mutual benefit of the two organisations.

He said the visit which was part of engagements with the key stakeholders of the FCT-IRS of which NFIU was one, was to solicit for support and cooperation to enhance revenue collection and administration in the FCT.

Ango, stated that while there was an existing partnership between the two organisations he was working towards forging a closer and stronger relationship between them for the progress of the FCT and the country in general.

He stressed that coming together to share ideas, data and information between the two organisations would help in no small measure to facilitate and improve their operations.

In her remarks, Hajiya Abubakar congratulated Ango on his appointment as well as expressed delight for the visit.

She expressed confidence that the service would make significant strides under Ango’s leadership and stand out as an example of efficiency, effectiveness, and integrity in revenue generation.

She explained that NFIU was the central national authority responsible for receiving reports from a broad range of local and foreign entities, analysing the reports, and producing intelligence adding that this intelligence is shared with law enforcement and security agencies as well as other authorities to combat crimes.

The NFIU chief decried tax crimes particularly tax evasion as a serious offense, noting that it denies the government the resources it needs to invest in infrastructure and pay for services that contribute to the wellbeing and prosperity of citizenry.

“We also recognise that this issue is particularly important at the sub national level due to the huge demand of public investment particularly health, education and social services, this led to our decision to explore partnerships with state internal revenue services.

“I am pleased that the FCT-IRS is one of our first and indeed our most effective partner in this regard. The relationship we established with your office serves as a groundbreaking model and we are now working with about 24 other state revenue services, we believe our efforts is making a significant contribution to domestic revenue mobilisation across the federation,” she said.