Robert Awokuse
The Federal Inland Revenue Service is set to review all tax laws in Nigeria with a view to maintaining a high degree of self-assessment and voluntary agreement by taxpayers.
As part of the review process, the agency is set to commence the audit of taxpayers across the country.
The nationwide audit would ensure increased tax revenue collection, improved service delivery to taxpayers and enhanced voluntary compliance.
Executive Chairman of FIRS, Mr. Tunde Fowler, stated this while delivering a keynote address at a stakeholders’ meeting on “Tax Administration and National Revenue”.
The stakeholders’ meeting was aimed at charting the way forward for the country’s tax administration and addressing the challenges hindering a robust tax regime.
Fowler, who is also the Chairman of the Joint Tax Board, said that the board was determined to improve services to taxpayers at all levels.
According to him, a consolidated Taxpayer Identification Number database was already in place under the JTB.
He added that taxpayers and stakeholders should support tax authorities in the interest of national development.
“Studies, however, show that the extent to which an economy is able to grow sustainably and develop depends to a large extent on its ability to generate tax revenue to finance its expenditure and the efficiency of its tax system.
“The questions that arise from these simple statements include how to identify areas of non-compliance, How to measure the level of non-compliance, and how to address non-compliance,’’ Fowler said.
The tax expert explained that FIRS had put in place various strategies to curtail non-compliance to improve tax revenue collection on a sustainable basis.
“Well-designed taxpayer services, education programmes, and creative measures can facilitate self-assessment and compliance,’’ Fowler said.
