FIRS Executive Chairman, Muhammad Nami
By TOM CHIAHEMEN, Abuja –
As part of measures to check the activities of fraudsters who specialise in producing and selling fake Tax Clearance Certificates (TCC), the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has unveiled a state-of-the-art, user-friendly online portal that detects any TCC not duly issued by the FIRS.
Executive Chairman of the FIRS, Muhammad Nami, disclosed this at the Revenue House headquarters of the Service in Abuja while receiving the Management of the Federal Capital Territory (FCTA) Land Administration.
This came as the Executive Chairman also disclosed that the Service did not grant any tax waivers to any local or foreign investors in the country as the FIRS Act did not empower it to grant such tax breaks.
Nami made the disclosed on Friday in Abuja, this time, during his appearance before the House of Representatives’ Public Accounts Committee investigating alleged tax waivers granted to three foreign firms operating in the country.
In a statement made available to NATIONAL ACCORD, the Director, Communications and Liaison of the FIRS, Dr Abdullahi Ismaila Ahmad, quoted Mr. Nami as saying: “We are not unmindful of the activities of fraudsters who specialise in producing and selling fake TCCs to tax evaders. The FIRS has now gone ahead of them as it has launched an online portal through which Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), body corporate and individuals could confirm the genuineness of TCCs issued to them.
“The moment anyone presents a TCC to transact any business with you, we want you to visit www.tcc.firs.gov.ng. The moment you put the Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) of the company, its RC number, and the name of the company in the portal, the actual Tax Clearance Certificate of the company, if it has any, will come up. If the TCC presented to you is fake, you will know. When you come across such cases, you should immediately inform us so that we prosecute such people. The only way we can collaborate as government agencies is to share information”.
The FIRS Executive Chairman urged the FCTA Land Administration authorities and other public and private organisations to henceforth fact-check any TCC presented to them before transacting any business.
Mr Nami also urged the FCTA Land Administration management to make it mandatory for anyone registering any property in Abuja to present a TCC. He said it is by so doing that the revenue profile of the government would increase and be enough to support the developmental needs of the government at all levels.
His words: “You should also insist that before any property is registered, the person or company seeking registration must present a TCC. We also appeal that you should not accept the situation where taxpayers try to under-declare the value of properties. You know what the value of properties is in Abuja. Somebody should not come up to declare that he bought 2,500 square metres of land in Maitama Abuja for the sum of N1 million when you know that the cost of such piece of land in Maitama is far, far higher than that amount. We want you to help us in that regard by disputing values that they may deliberately declare to shortchange the government.
“We want a situation whereby we can collaborate to create a portal where for every land that is registered with you, the details are escalated on the portal so that we will be able to compare the information with the taxpayers’ information in the FIRS. This issue of information exchange for the administration of Capital Gains Tax has become necessary because if you observe the issue of budget funding from April last year, you would discover that Nigeria needs all tax revenues it could generate to support the economy. And tax revenue from FIRS has been contributing 70 per cent of the funds being shared monthly by the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) to the three tiers of government.”
Mr. Nami commended the FCTA Land Administration for indicating interest in collaborating with the FIRS. “We want you to continue to help both the Federal Inland Revenue Service and the FCT Internal Revenue Service in ensuring that as assets are disposed of, particularly property and land in Abuja, that at the point of registering the property for acquisition, you can charge appropriate CGT and Stamp Duties and remit to the appropriate tax authorities, whether it is FCT Internal Revenue Service or the Federal Inland Revenue Service. Your cooperation is now critical because some other revenue-generating sectors are not currently doing very well because of the negative impact of COVID-19”, Nami said.
Director of FCTA Land Administration, Adamu Jibrin Hussaini, who led the delegation of the organisation said they were willing to collaborate with the FIRS in areas of their jurisdiction such as a collection of Capital Gains Tax (CGT) and Stamp Duties for properties in the FCT.
“Thank you for giving us this opportunity despite your tight schedule. We feel we should come to identify and collaborate with you in our area of jurisdiction which includes the collection, on behalf of FIRS, of Capital Gains Tax and Stamp Duties”, Hussaini said.
…Tax Waivers
The three foreign firms are Indorama Petrochemical, Indorama Fertilizer and Petrochemical Ltd and OIS Indorama Eleme Port-Harcourt
Nami said: “The FIRS does not have the power or responsibility of facilitating or implementing incentives for local investors or investors coming through the Foreign Direct Investment platform, which is the sole prerogative of the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC)”.
Nami pointed out that “the investigation of the three foreign firms, Indorama Petrochemical, Indorama Fertilizer and Petrochemical Ltd and OIS Indorama Eleme Port-Harcourt, started way back in 2015. The committee in charge of the investigation has consistently been furnished with all required documents by the FIRS”. He further stated that the companies under consideration “have been variously granted pioneer status between December 15th, 1997 to 2016 for the Indorama Petrochemical Ltd and between 2017 – 2020 for the Indorama Fertilizer and Chemicals Ltd respectively”. According to him “upon expiration of the pioneer period and conclusion of post pioneer Audit, the Indorama Petrochemical Ltd company’s tax file was returned to the Large Tax Office (LTO) Port Harcourt. Thus far, the company has filed its annual returns up to 31st December 2019 with relevant Self-Assessment and paid its attendant liabilities”.
He, therefore, pleaded with the Public Accounts Committee “to always avail itself of the opportunity to work closely with the custodians of FIRS records, such as the Coordinating Directors, Directors and Tax Controllers as do other House Committees like the Committee on Finance, to enhance its investigation at any time.”
Recall that the House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts had written a letter of invitation dated 27th May 2021 to the Executive Chairman of the FIRS to appear at its public hearing slated for 9 June 2021 on alleged revenue leakages involving the three foreign firms. However, the FIRS Executive Chairman could not honour the Committee’s summons on that date due to other pressing engagements which included Board meetings.
Appearing in person on the rescheduled date, Nami noted with satisfaction the cordial relationship between the FIRS and the legislators since he assumed office in December 2019.
He seized the opportunity to reiterate that “the mandate of the FIRS is to assess, collect and account for tax revenue.” This mandate, he stressed, “is clear and unambiguous.”
Mr Nami used the opportunity to call for a continuous cordial working relationship between the National Assembly and the FIRS “especially in this critical time when tax revenue has become crucial to the operations of the three tiers of government.”
He assured that the FIRS under his watch “is very keen on collaborating with the Honourable Members of the Committee and other critical stakeholders in the National Assembly on the Automatic Exchange of Information on tax evasion, tax avoidance and other related issues.”
Nami concluded his remarks by emphasising that he remained focused on the task of revenue collection which the Federal Government had assigned him to undertake. This task, he noted, “has its challenges, more so with the ravaging impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on businesses and the overall economy. The Management of FIRS is working assiduously to achieve the revenue target set for it by the Federal Government and is not relenting in that objective”.