Majority of Nigeria’s taxpaying public outside tax net – FIRS chairman

Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Muhammad Nami, says majority of the taxpaying public in the country still find themselves out of the tax net.

Nami said this remains the case despite the efforts of the 38 tax authorities in the country and the laws, taxes and levies to ensure people comply.

The FIRS boss was speaking at the 2nd Annual National Tax Dialogue with the theme: “Tax Harmonisation for Enhanced Revenue Generation”, at the State House Conference Centre, on Tuesday.

He called for all hands to be on deck to support the tax system and make it function efficiently, while also urging politicians to treat tax revenue generation as an apolitical issue.

Mr. Nami said that it had become clear that the survival of the nation is dependent on tax revenue, revealing that the revenue profile of the country in 2021 showed that FIRS had contributed a monthly average of 59.45% of revenue shared by FAAC

“All hands must be on deck to support the tax system and make it function efficiently.  However, it is surprising that some people have begun to play politics with tax revenue generation. We humbly invite the President to step-in to dissuade political tax gladiators to sheath their swords. Tax revenue is an inherently apolitical issue; it should be treated as such by all, irrespective of their political leaning,” the FIRS chairman said.

According to him, the FIRS was able to record an unprecedented feat in tax revenue generation in 2021, where the Service surpassed its target and collected N6.4 trillion, the highest collection ever in i.

Speaking on the theme of the event, the chairman noted that the dialogue was imperative given the prevalent issues of competing revenue agencies.

“This discussion is imperative in view of the fact that despite our 38 tax authorities, several tax laws and numerous taxes or levies, majority of the taxpaying public still remain outside the tax net. 

“The tax-dodgers found it convenient to meander among the competing revenue agencies escaping their tax obligations.  The result is suboptimal revenue generation at all tiers of government,” he added.

Declaring the dialogue open, President Muhammadu Buhari stated that a key deliverable of the dialogue is to promote synergy in tax administration among the different tiers of government.

President Buhari said: ‘’Harmonising taxpayer identification across the country is a good start; but we must do more to promote ease of doing business—including ease of tax compliance—in Nigeria.

”On our part, we have started by clarifying in the 2021 Finance Act that FIRS is the sole authority to administer tax for the Federal Government.

”This clarification became necessary in order to avoid taxpayers being burdened with multiple tax compliance obligations towards different agencies of the same government.

”Multiplicity of tax administration is as undesirable as multiplicity of taxes; it creates uncertainty and instability; and above all, it is inefficient.”