By TOM CHIAHEMEN, Abuja –
As part of fresh initiatives aimed at mobilizing the much needed resources for the federal government, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) is extending an olive branch to tax defaulters to help them pay such debts.
It is coming in the form of waivers on interests accruable to debts and the resultant penalties on the condition that such indebtedness is fully settled not later than May 31, 2020.
This is contained in a statement by the FIRS Executive Chairman, Muhammad Nami, in Abuja on Friday.
The new approach is coming at a critical period when the raging COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in drastic fall in global oil prices, the mainstay of Nigeria’s economy.
According to the statement, the concession applies only to taxpayers who make full payment on or before May 31.
Nami had recently encouraged companies to start the payment of their annual returns ahead of the due date, with the exception of normal monthly obligations.
The FIRS boss also reiterated that the revenue agency was poised to provide support to all taxpayers as directed by President Muhammadu Buhari in his nationwide broadcast to the country.
Nami enjoined corporate bodies, particularly the manufacturers, telecommunications and financial services companies, e-commerce and supermarkets deemed to be less hi by the COVID-19 lockdown, to ensure early payment their taxes.
It would be recalled that only two months ago, the FIRS announced that it planned to meet the N8.5 trillion revenue target for the year even in the face of the prevailing economic challenges.
“When the federal government set the N8.5 trillion target, it must have realised that we are equal to the task. As the hub of the operations of the service, you are therefore expected to deliver the bulk of the target while the other groups support you,” Nami said at a retreat for the Tax Operations Group.
He therefore charged the staff to work had in order to meet government’s expectations, particularly at this “critical time when virtually all the other sources of revenue for the government are being challenged, especially by the coronavirus pandemic, the downward slide in the price of oil at the international market for as low as $30 per barrel against $57 benchmark used for the budget.”
On the part of FIRS Management, Nami promised the staff, “We shall not relent in providing the right environment for you to succeed.”
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