The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), has said it is committed to surpassing the N10.1 trillion it collected as tax for the government last year through the use of technology. The Executive Chairman of the Service, Muhammad Nami, stated this at a stakeholder meeting in Lagos.
According to him, the FIRS is continuously implementing initiatives that are principally driven by the use of Information Technology and many of such initiatives have been successfully implemented including the recently introduced Electronic Tax Clearance Certificate (ETCC).
Nami, who was represented at the meeting by Kabir Abba, Group lead General Tax, Operation Group, said the FIRS has also introduced the TaxproMax solution which has enhanced compliance and collection of taxes from taxpayers. More importantly, he said the Service has deployed technology to ease the burden of compliance to the taxpayers.
Enabled by the law: While noting that the Finance Act 2020 amended Section 25 of the FIRS Establishment Act of the FIRS to aid the digitalization efforts of the Service, Nami said:
- “We have leveraged this legislation to deploy technology for taxpayers’ compliance and reduce the cost of compliance on the part of the taxpayers.
- “FIRS also created an Intelligence and Strategic Data Mining Department which has tremendously helped in ensuring that as a Service, we now have access to more data on existing and non-complying entities and individuals.
- “These categories of taxpayers which had previously been under the radar have been brought into the tax net and made to comply with their tax obligations, which has translated into improved revenue collection.”
He said FIRS 2022 collection stood at N10.1 trillion, as against N6.4 trillion collected in 2021, showing a 57.8% increment and a large part of the increase could be attributed to the deployment of technology which has started yielding the desired results.
- “If we could collect N10.1 trillion last year, we can do more this year as we leverage technology to block loopholes, he added.
Appeal to taxpayers: Speaking in his personal capacity as the Group lead General Tax, Operation Group at the FIRS, Abba appealed to the stakeholders to file their taxes on time, adding that there is no place for them to hide as the Service now has the capacity to monitor everyone.
- “I want to call on all our taxpayers and the consultants as well as the tax officers, we need to collaborate with each other. As people who administer the taxes, we cannot do it alone. We need to collaborate. And this is for all good of the country. But I want to assure all of us that there is no hiding place for anybody trying to dodge taxes. FIRS has grown now; we are so robust; we have technical staff and we have the tools to monitor everyone,” he said.