FIRS Rakes In N13bn From Billionaire Tax Defaulters

The Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Tunde Fowler, recently said the sum of N12.66bn has been collected from billionaires who had earlier defaulted in payment of taxes.

Fowler told the new Minister of Finance, Hajia Zainab Ahmed, that this was following a new initiative adopted to collect taxes who wealthy Nigerians who chose to evade payment.

In a statement, Fowler said, “The FIRS wrote to all commercial banks in May 2018 requesting for a list of companies, partnerships, and enterprises with banking turnover of N1bn and above. This activity is aimed at ascertaining those companies that are compliant with the tax laws and those that are not compliant. So far, the non-compliant organisations have paid about N12.66bn.

“The FIRS will continue to implement initiatives that will drive compliance and generate revenue by continuous taxpayer enlightenment; implementation of the Auto VAT Collect in other sectors of the economy; simplification of the tax processes, especially for small taxpayers; strengthening collaboration with other agencies such as the Corporate Affairs Commission, states’ boards of internal revenue; Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment; and the Nigeria Customs Service.”

While commending the FIRS chairman, the Minister said her ministry will collaborate with the FIRS by
supporting all its efforts in revenue generation.