The Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, Zaccheus Adedeji, on Wednesday, explained the need for the change of the FIRS to the Nigeria Revenue Service.
Adedeji, while appearing before the House of Representatives Committee on Finance, explained that the current name does not reflect the true function of the agency, and limits its power to carry out functions.
It would be recalled that President Bola Tinubu sent four bills on tax reform to the National Assembly for passage.
One of the bills, the Nigeria Revenue Service Act repeals the FIRS Act, and also makes a name change.
The other bills are the Tax Administration Bill, the Nigeria Revenue Service Establishment Bill, and the Joint Revenue Board Establishment Bill.
Mr Adedeji explained that the “federal” and “inland” in the current name limit the powers of the commission.
In case of “federal”, he stated that the agency currently collects money for federal, states and local governments with the VAT collection.
He noted that the agency equally collects funds outside the shores of Nigeria from Amazon, Google and others, hence, the agency cannot be called “inland.”
