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Tag: Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS)

  • FIRS, ICAN disagree over 10-year tax holiday for new companies

    FIRS, ICAN disagree over 10-year tax holiday for new companies

    The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) Monday disagreed over proposed 10-year tax holiday for new companies in the country.

    The Senate began the move to alter the Company Income Tax Act (CITA), which seeks to increase pioneer status to new companies in Nigeria from five to 10 years.

    While FIRS strongly opposed the proposal, ICAN supported it.

    The FIRS noted that giving further incentive to companies would lead to loss of revenue to the country

    At a public hearing on the Company Income Tax Act (CITA), Chairman FIRS Babatunde Fowler, supported the current provision in CITA, which gives five year tax holidays to new companies.

    Using the telecommunications industry to back his position, Fowler submitted that five-year is ‘more than sufficient’ for investors to recoup their profit.

    He said, “When one looks at the telecommunications companies that were given incentives a lot of them actually did make profit before the pioneer status of the incentives even expired.

    “So, I wouldn’t like us to grant such incentives for a period of 10 years. We believe that 10 years is a very long time for any business not to generate profit. And I believe investors would have taken due recognition of their investments and the time that they expect for profit to be made.”

    Section 34 (a) of the proposal states that “A new company going into business where infrastructures such as electricity, water or tarred road are not provided by the government ‘ shall be exempt from tax for the first ten years of its operation.”

    According to the FIRS boss, most investors hardly invest in areas where they can’t make profit within five years of investment.

    But the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) differed.

    According to ICAN this would encourage entrepreneurs and existing companies to expand their operations.

    The Institute recommended that the proposal should also include existing companies going into a line of business where infrastructures are not provided by the government.

    ICAN President, Mallam Isma’ila Zakari said: “This is a welcome development that will encourage entrepreneurs to invest and expand their operations. However, this section should be amended to include existing companies. This would encourage existing companies to expand their operations so as to benefit from the incentives when they invest in such locations.

    “We recommend that the new section should read as follows: ‘A new or existing company going into business where infrastructures such as electricity, water or tarred road are not provided by the government shall be exempted from tax on its operation for the first five (5) years for existing company and ten (10) years for a new company’”.

    Senate President Abubakar Bukola Saraki, who inaugurated the public hearing said the bill will not only boost employment activities in the rural area but also provide employment opportunities for the teeming unemployed youths.

    “The proposed amendments will encourage investments in the industrial and mining sectors of the economy; especially in the rural areas where ordinarily it would have been unattractive to invest.

    “It is expected that when the CITA Bill is passed into law, economic activities that would be generated through tax moratorium assured by this Bill, will pilot the much canvassed employment opportunities for our qualified youths; and open up communities where these companies are sited,” Saraki said.

     

  • FG to launch One-Stop-Shop for MSMEs

    FG to launch One-Stop-Shop for MSMEs

    In fulfillment of its mandate to significantly spur Micro, Small and Medium Scale Enterprises ( MSMEs ) the Federal Government would launch one-stop shops in no fewer than seven states across the country.

    The measure is to facilitate smoother government regulation and interface between entrepreneurs and agencies of government.

    Read also: UNIDO upgrades MSMEs’ financial literacy 

    The Vice President’s Spokesman, Laolu Akande, said in a statement on Monday that already one such one-stop shop for MSMEs in Plateau State was launched in Jos on Aug. 24, and was being housed by the Plateau State Micro-Finance Development Agency (PLASMEDA).

    According to him, the states that are next in line are Abia, Cross River, Ogun, Akwa Ibom, Kwara, Kano, Benue and the FCT.

    He said that the shops were slated to take off between September and October, adding that more of the one-stop shops are expected to be launched in other states before the end of the year.

    The one-stop-shop is aimed at bridging the information gap between micro and small investors and regulatory agencies of government.

    Such agencies include the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Standards Organization of Nigeria (SON), Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), and others.

    Akande said that the MSMEs clinics which held in several States already had provided the opportunities for entrepreneurs and local producers in the MSME level to interact with regulatory agencies.

    Read also: ‘Accounting can sustain MSMEs in Nigeria’

    He added that the One-Stop Shop would create an ongoing opportunity in a permanent location to achieve the same purpose.

    The One-Stop Shop programme is part of the on-going Nationwide Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise Clinics for Viable Enterprises (MSME Clinics) initiated by the Presidency in January 2017.

    The MSMEs Clinics, one of the diversification initiatives of the Buhari administration, was designed to give small businesses the opportunity to interact with the industry regulators in an effort to spur local production and harness the nation’s export potential.

    Read also: Entrepreneurship, Key to ending Youth Unemployment in Nigeria- YPNI

    The agencies to be housed in the One-Stop Shops are the Bank of Industry (BOI), Bank of Agriculture (BOA), CAC, FIRS, SON, NAFDAC, and the Industrial Training Fund (ITF).

    Others are the Nigerian Export-Import Bank (NEXIM), Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), and Small & Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN).

  • LCCI urges NASS to guard against loss of investors’ confidence

    LCCI urges NASS to guard against loss of investors’ confidence

    The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has urged the National Assembly to be cautious in its oversight and investigative role, to avoid economic disruption and loss of investors’ confidence.

    Mr Muda Yusuf, Director-General of LCCI, made the appeal in a statement on Monday in Lagos.

    He said that allegations and petitions received by the national assembly about infractions by the Private Sector should be properly verified for credibility, before presenting such to the media.

    “The most recent of such public pronouncements was the alleged N30 trillion revenue loss, and the allegedly missing 288 vessels by the Senate Joint Committee on Customs, Excise, Tariffs and Marine Transport.

    “Some 63 firms were accused of complicity in the alleged scam. These are grave allegations that needed to be subjected to proper scrutiny, before making them public issues.

    “Their implications for the nation’s image and foreign investors’ perception are severe.

    “The chamber believes and promotes the ideals of high ethical standards in business and would not support infractions against statutory laws by private sector entities.

    “However, we would like to see a legislative/private sector interface characterised by mutual respect, fairness, and courtesy,” Yusuf said.

    According to him, listing corporate organisations in the media over allegations have considerable reputational costs and weighty consequences for the brand equity of such organisations.

    He noted that frequent summons of organisations by the legislature had significant financial implications to organisations not domiciled in Abuja, in terms of costs of flights, hotels and other logistics for appearing before the national assembly.

    “The Executive time committed to appearance before committees of the national assembly is enormous, especially since most of the committees would insist that appearance should be at the level of the CEOs of the companies.

    “There is need to streamline the summons and public hearings to avoid duplication and overlap between the Senate and the House of Representatives.

    “It is also imperative for the leadership of the national assembly to vet the summons by its committees to ensure efficiency, cost effectiveness and optimisation of executive time committed to the public hearings.

    “This is important when we realise that we have 89 Standing Committees in the House of Representatives and 59 Standing Committees in the Senate,” he said.

    The LCCI boss said that statutory agencies of government were often custodians of some information that the private sector was required to provide support to legislative investigations.

    “It is more cost effective to access this information from these agencies of government.

    “Matters that can be investigated by the statutory agencies of government such as the Judiciary, the EFCC, the Independent Corrupt Practices and

    Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and the National Industrial Court, the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), should be referred to such institutions.

    “These bodies have better competences, capacities, and structures for investigation of infringements of the law.

    “This would enable the National Assembly focus on its core duties of representation and lawmaking,” he said.

    Yusuf said that the chamber appreciated the role of the senate in enacting enabling laws and review of obsolete legislations toward creating an enabling environment for investors.

    According to him, the economy needs investors to boost job creation and accelerate the economic recovery process, adding that the Economic

    Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) deliverables are anchored largely on the private sector.

    He, therefore, urged the national assembly to align with the plan toward reducing avoidable distractions to investors in the economy.

  • Reps hunt informants over Patience Jonathan’s property raid

    Reps hunt informants over Patience Jonathan’s property raid

    The House of Representatives on Wednesday asked National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) for identities of informants whose tip-off led to raid on former First Lady, Patience Jonathan’s property.

    The House’s Committee on Public Petition gave the order on Wednesday in its session on a petition on incessant harassment of herself and family sent to it by the former first lady.

    The committee also summoned the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and the Police to appear as defendants in the petition.

    A Director in the NDLEA, Mr Femi Oloruntoba, had told the committee at the hearing that the agency got a tip-off from an unnamed source that the property located at Igbeti Rock Street, Maitama, Abuja, was being used for illicit drug activities.

    “Based on the information, eight officers of the agency visited the premises after surveillance was conducted on it. It is not true that 50 officers from my agency visited the premises,” he said.

    According to Oloruntoba, the officer who met two occupants of the premises provided them with a search endorsement form, which they endorsed indicating that the search was conducted without any damage to the property or loss of items.

    He said that the agency was not aware that the premises belonged to the former first lady, adding that a letter was written by a solicitor on behalf of a man who claimed to be the owner of the premises.

    Consequently, the committee requested NDLEA to provide it with the identity of the claimed source before the next adjourned date.

    The legal team from Granville Abibo & Co. led by Mr Sammie Somiari, who petitioned the lower chamber on behalf of Mrs Jonathan, had earlier told the committee that it would adopt the initial petition as its brief in the matter.

    Somiari added that additional documents were available to substantiate whatever they had raised in the petition.

    He said the respondents, including the mentioned agencies, had engaged in wanton attacks on the former first lady and her relations.

    He cited different media reports and newspaper headlines as pointers to the allegation of attacks on Jonathan.

    He said “the EFCC has serially orchestrated a design to freeze the personal accounts of Mrs Jonathan, her siblings and other relations and associates

    “A case in point is one Aridolf Jo Resort Wellness and Spa Ltd off Okota Estate and Finchley Top Homes Limited which were all shut down without any justifiable reason by the EFCC with their accounts frozen.”

    The committee asked its secretariat to send reminders to all agencies joined in the case that were yet to appear to provide documents regarding their role in the matter.

    It adjourned its session to Sept. 19, 2017.

  • FG projects N1.8tr VAT collection for 2017

    FG projects N1.8tr VAT collection for 2017

    …Half year tax collection N1.782tr

     

    The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has projected N1.8 trillion Value Added Tax (VAT) collection for 2017 fiscal year.

    Executive Chairman FIRS, Tunde Fowler, made the projection Tuesday in his 2017 budget presentation at the Senate Committee on Finance budget defence.

    The FIRS boss told the committee that the budget focused on capacity to increase VAT and other non-oil revenue.

    He noted that principally, VAT is expected to grow from an actual of N828 billion to a budget of N1.8 trillion which is over 125 per cent increase.

    He also told the committee that the achievement of the 2017 budget will be driven by VAT collection.

    He added that “The Service in realization of this responsibility and challenges of doing manual collection, have automated VAT collection for the critical sectors of the economy notably telecommunications, airlines and financial institutions.”

    Fowler said that the deployment of the platforms is at no cost to the Service while the consultants will only be rewarded on incremental revenue generated.

    He told the committee that the Service proposed to collect the following tax revenue target as derived from Federal Government 2016-2018 Medium Term Revenue Framework (MTRF) for 2017 amounting to a total of N4.89 trillion.

    Fowler said that the budget for oil revenue dropped by 9 per cent over 2016 actual due to low oil price that operated in the year.

    On budget parameter, the FIRS boss said that the 2017 projected cost of collection of N153.44 billion is higher than the 2016 approval estimate which stood at N143.90 billion.

    The figure, he said, represent a cost of collection increase of 6.63 per cent on overall projected non-oil revenue including VAT, stamp duties and levy.

    Fowler prayed the Senate to approve “the surplus budget of N848 arises from expected total revenue of N153.4 billion over expenditure of N152.6 billion.”

    On the revenue projections performance for the period January to June 2017, the FIRS boss said that the analysis showed that the Service have recorded an increase of N224 billion representing an overall increase of 14 per cent in 2017, when compared with the collection performance for the corresponding period in 2016.

    “We have therefore achieved 72.93 per cent of our half year target of N2.44 trillion for 2017 as against 74.2 per cent of N2.1 trillion for the corresponding period in 2016.

    He put tax collection between January to June 2017 at N1, 782,922,600.000 with variation of N224, 140,900,000 giving 14 per cent increase of the same period in 2016.

    He said, “The chairman may note that we attained this collection performance despite several challenges, as we have continued to vigorously pursue our strategies internally while improving collaboration with relevant stakeholders to boost our collections.

    “The strategies put in place are on course and progressively yielding fruits. We are hopeful therefore that the efforts being made will translate to significant tax yields before the end of 2017.”

    Chairman Senate Committee on Finance, Senator John Enoh, stressed the need for the FIRS to work to achieve approved target.

    Enoh noted that with a deficit of over N2 trillion if the Service failed to meet its target, it would impact negatively on the implementation of the 2017 budget.

    The Cross River Central lawmaker also mooted the idea of the need for midterm engagement between the committee and the Service to block loopholes if any.

     

  • AUPCTRE advises FG to reintroduce payment of gratuity

    AUPCTRE advises FG to reintroduce payment of gratuity

    The Amalgamated Union of Public Corporations, Civil Service Technical and Recreational Services Employees (AUPCTRE) on Thursday advised the Federal Government to reintroduce payment of gratuity to workers under the pension Act.

    The FCT Council Chairperson of AUPCTRE, Mr. Benjamin Anthony, made the call in a communiqué issued at the end of the union’s State Governing Council meeting held in Abuja.

    It would be recalled that there had been protracted controversy over continuity in payment of gratuity after the enactment of the Pension Reform Act (PRA) 2004.

    Some employers argued that the PRA and the Contributory Pension Scheme had abolished the payment of gratuity.

    However, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) insisted that gratuity had nothing to do with pension and therefore, the PRA, which had been silent on gratuity could not have been abolished.

    The AUPCTRE chairperson expressed concern about the poor state of workers when they retire from civil service and appealed to the three tiers of government to look into the situation to assist retirees.

    He frowned at the exclusion of certain categories of public officers from the Pension Act, saying “if government desires to exempt certain categories of workers, then the scheme has outgrown its usefulness and should therefore be abrogated with immediate effect.”

    “Similarly, AUPCTRE observed that workers are subjected to untold hardship in the process of obtaining Tax Clearance Certificate from Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).”

    He, therefore, urged government to mandate FIRS to issue tax clearance to workers whose taxes were deducted at source on monthly basis without workers coming to ask for it.

  • Reps uncover $15bn unremitted oil, gas revenue

    Reps uncover $15bn unremitted oil, gas revenue

    House of Representatives Ad hoc Committee investigating allegedly missing 17 billion dollars crude oil and Liquified Natural Gas revenue, on Monday uncovered 15 billion dollars unremitted revenue into Federation Account.

    The trace of the alleged missing fund believed to have been stolen and diverted to a foreign destination, was contained in the two documents submitted by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) at the committee’s sitting.

    While responding to questions from members of the committee, Mr Rabiu Bello, NNPC’s Chief Operating Officer (COO), admitted that there were discrepancies in the documents.

    In his presentation earlier, Mr Jack Ukitetu, a Director in Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), who represented the bank’s Governor, explained that the Accountant-General of the Federation approved and determined the money accrued to the Excess Crude Account.

    Ukitetu said that before 2006, the CBN collected the money on behalf of government’s agencies and remitted into the Federal Reserve Account in New York and charged 0.25 per cent.

    He, however, added that after 2006, the oil companies paid directly what was due to the government.

    On commissions being collected by the apex bank, the director told the lawmakers that the CBN collected 0.25 per cent via foreign exchange allocation and did not charge the Federal Government as deduction were made from central sales.

    Meanwhile, Mr Waziri Adio, Executive Secretary of Nigerian Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (NEITI), who had accused NNPC and CBN of misleading the ad hoc committee, pleaded to withdraw the earlier documents submitted.

    He, however, pledged to submit “more damaging documents” on the alleged crude oil theft to the committee on Wednesday “ which will help in unearthing the unremitted revenue accrued from oil and gas but not remitted”.

    Speaking earlier, Chairman of the committee, Rep. Abdulrazak Namdas, said that the committee would not hesitate to submit its report to the House without the inputs of major Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) which failed to honour the committee’s invitation.

    Toward this, the committee mandated the CBN and NNPC to submit the audited report of the oil and gas account showing the remitted funds into the Federation Account between 2011 and 2014.

    The NNPC was also directed to submit the Bill of Laden relating to the 974,721 barrels of crude oil lifted on Oct. 20, 2011 and 961,963 barrels lifted on Oct. 10, 2011.

    It also included 974, 935 barrels lifted on July 9, 2011 and 974,953 barrels lifted on July 18, 2011 but were not declared.

    The lawmakers also requested for report of the reconciliation conducted by NNPC and Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) as well as the list of oil off-takers for 2013 and 2014.

    Similarly, NNPC is expected to provide details of the companies that paid oil tax between 2011 and 2014 as well as the Letter of Credits (LCs) of all the monies paid into the Federation Account within the period.

  • FG approves higher interest rate on unpaid taxes

    FG approves higher interest rate on unpaid taxes

    The Federal Government has approved a new interest rate spread on unpaid taxes for the year 2017.

    The new interest rate was approved by the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun.

    According to the Minister, the new interest rate shall be 5% over the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Minimum Re-Discount Rate (MRR) for the year 2017.

    She explained that Section 32(1b) of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (Establishment) Act 2007 empowers her to approve the new interest rate.

    Adeosun has accordingly directed the Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Mr. Tunde Fowler to commence the implementation of the new interest rate on all unpaid taxes from July 1, 2017.

    The minister said the review of the interest rates on unpaid taxes was one of the necessary measures adopted by the federal government to enhance tax compliance, minimize tax evasion and deter late payments.

    According to Adeosun, “majority of Nigerian tax payers (PAYE) have taxes deducted automatically. However, those who do not and are required to file their taxes like companies and business enterprises must understand that there are financial consequences for late payments.”

    She added that “this will support our efforts to ensure that people pay their taxes promptly, thus providing a sustainable source of revenue to the government to finance infrastructure and other projects.”

    It could be recalled that Mrs. Adeosun had, during the Finance Ministers’ meeting convened by the G24 Group at the 2017 IMF/World Bank Spring meetings in Washington, stressed the need for Nigeria to embark on aggressive tax revenue generation in order to drive economic growth.

    She had emphasized that with a tax to GDP ratio of only six per cent, one of the lowest levels in the world, the country had to intensify effort at tax collection in order to build a sustainable revenue base that will deliver inclusive growth.

    She stated that the focus of the federal government in 2017 was to improve tax revenue through ensuring voluntary compliance with tax laws.

     

  • Probe invasion of Jonathan’s hotel, youths urge FIRS

    Probe invasion of Jonathan’s hotel, youths urge FIRS

    Youths from Niger Delta region, Monday, appealed to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to investigate alleged invasion of a hotel belonging to former First Lady, Mrs. Patience Jonathan, by its officials.

    Officials of FIRS besieged the Aridolf Resort and Spars along Isaac Boroh Expressway, Bayelsa State, on May 3 and attempted to seal off the place following alleged N10million unpaid tax.

    Youths from the hotel including workers reportedly intervened and stopped them from closing the hotel.

    But youths under the auspices of the Niger Delta Youths Coalition for Peace and Progress (NDYCPP) said a thorough investigation must be carried out to determine the real motive of the officials.

    The Acting Chairman, NDYCPP, Chief Henry Nabena, lamented that the officials disrupted their meeting and later claimed that they were attacked by the militants.

    Nabena, who spoke in Yenagoa, said the report that FIRS officials were attacked by militants was a smear campaign against members of NDYCPP and proprietors of the hotel.

    He said that describing members of the youth group as militants was falsehood against the integrity of a group of non-violent youths working for advancement of peace in the Niger Delta.

    He said: “The FIIRS officials came with men in police uniforms without name tags on their uniforms and were well armed.

    “Also among them were young men with chains and padlocks in their hands, making the operation highly suspicious as one with extortionist intentions.

    “Interestingly, it was about that time the leadership of Niger Delta Youth Coalition for Peace and Progress was holding a very strategic peace and security meeting at the Hotel’s Conference Hall.

    “The officials of FIRS burst into the meeting hall and disrupted it, embarrassing members of the Coalition with their unruly and unethical conduct”.

    He demanded unreserved apology from FIRS for reports alleging that some 50 militants attacked its officials at the hotel.

    “The publication orchestrated by the FIRS is totally untrue, baseless, malicious, provocative, vexatious, sensational and intended to malign the person of the former first family

    “The leadership of FIRS should caution their personnel on the essence of ethical and civil conduct in carrying out their official and legitimate duties.

    “We urge the management of FIRS to retrain their line-managers towards carrying out their legitimate functions with best practices, professionalism and ethical compliance .

    “They should shun the temptation of being cajoled or used by disgruntled politicians to witch-haunt their perceived political rivals,” he said.

    He advised that as a central revenue collector for the government, FIRS should discharge its duties with manifest transparency and accountability at all times.

    He said that the youth group wanted an investigation and would not allow the falsehood to stand even if it involved seeking redress in the courts.

    But an official of FIIRS, who spoke in confidence, said there was an ongoing nationwide enforcement of compliance.

    He said: “There is need to first ascertain if the raid was by FIIRS officials in the first place because there is Internal Revenue service in every state, if that is cleared then they can lodge a complaint as FIIRS is structured to handle complains.”

     

  • Customs to officially deploy e-auction platform – Official

    Mr Joseph Attah, Public Relations Officer, Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) says in a matter of days, the service will officially deploy electronic auction platform for Nigerians.

    Attah announced this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Abuja.

    He said that interested Nigerians who wanted to be part of the system should approach the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to acquire the Tax Identification Number (TIN).

    “I told you earlier that the electronic auction platform is ready and undergoing a User Acceptability Test (UAT).

    “In a matter of days, it is going to be officially deployed for Nigerians.

    “Those who want to be part of this system should approach the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to acquire the tax Identification Number (TIN). That is what it takes, they should get that ready,”Attah said.

    On bonded terminal licence, Attah said that NCS was ready to license operators who secured a N50 million bank bond to operate a vehicle terminal.

    He said that the Service was ready to begin issuance of licence, adding that there were already positive responses from the public.

    “A lot of people have indicated interest and the process is on-going.

    “ NCS is ready for the issuance of licences to people who are interested.

    “What it takes is for interested persons to acquire a big land, fence it and have Customs section within; a workstation with connectivity and computer system that can easily connect to the Customs server.

    “Such person will also be required to enter into a bank bond of N50 million.

    “He or she will now apply through the Customs Area Comptroller of the command that he wants to site the terminal to the Comptroller General,” he said.

    NAN reports that Comptroller General of Customs (CGC), retired Col. Hameed Ali, rolled out the policy after banning the importation of vehicles through the land borders in January.

    On the recent removal of HND dichotomy in Customs, Attah said that the reaction had been positive and morale lifting across the commands.

    Attah said that with the singular decision, officers and men saying that the CGC had written his name in gold because he restored dignity, integrity and pride of the affected officers.

    “In my own view, reducing the rank of an HND holder because he does not have a B.Sc was not a perfect decision.

    “The CGC, in keeping with his reform agenda, has done what needed to have been done many years back.

    “ He has restored laughter and happiness and by the grace of God, we are expecting higher productivity,” Attah said.