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Tag: FIRS

  • CAC, FIRS partner on e-stamping module

    CAC, FIRS partner on e-stamping module

    The Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) has entered a partnership with the Federal Inland Revenue Service FIRS to ensure the integration of stamping module into the commission’s company registration portal, CRP.

    In a statement obtained by The Nation, the Commission said the CRP is aimed at creating seamless registration process and further reduce time and cost of registration of companies and other post incorporation process in the country.

    In the statement which reads in part, it said: “The Commission in discharging its responsibility has evolved through several stages or era in its existence up till where it is today. The different portals include company’s registration portal, CRP. Due to the numerous limitations of the content pinnacle software, the Commission decided to initiate the process of developing any other software which will not only eliminate all the limitations, but will also place the Commission in its rightful place as a world class company’s registry true to its mission statement.”

    Besides, with this software the Commission’s customers do not have to physically visit the Commission any longer as they can apply for any of the services online and in real time at any time of the day and any day of the week from the comfort of their homes or offices. Since the launch of the CRP on the 2nd of February 2015, the Commission has commenced full online services for name reservation and registration across the three parts, part A- companies, part B- Business names and part C- Incorporated Trustees.

    The name reservation and registration, the Commission said, can be done online real time anywhere in the world.

    “If you already have a name reserve you can apply and make payment for registration of a limited liability company, business names, and incorporated trustees while seated in your house or office. Though customers still have to download the incorporation documents for signing by the subscribers, directors before they subsequently submit the same to the Commission. This is a temporary arrangement and it is expected to end when document archival system is fully introduced in the portal.”

    As at 14th August 2015 the following transaction have been done directly on the new portal. Account creation, public users -25,217, accredited customers – 860, name search- 67,190, registration: Limited liability companies 5,977, business names, 2,751, Incorporated Trustees – 456.

    The Commission is making arrangement to create log in details for each company that is registered by it. This log in details will ensure that only authorised persons have access to the company’s profile to enable them make changes in the company details in the portal.

    The Registrar General, CAC, Bello Mahmud said the Commission is putting in place measures to create log in details for each company that is registered by it.

    Besides, he said the new measures will ensure that only authorised persons have access to the company’s profile to enable the operators make changes in the portal.

    Such changes, according to the CAC boss, would include change of directors, appointment of secretaries and increase in share capital. The objective is to ensure that only the rightful people make changes to the company’s records.

    He said: “From the CAC inception in 1990 – 2004 the commission’s activities were manually done, while the post 2004 era witnessed automated of its services through the CAC online but with some limitation in user ability. The third phase which involved the deployment of a new software the company’s registration portal has eliminated all the limitations and has commenced full online services for name reservation, registration of companies, business names and incorporated trustees.”

    The measures, Mahmud emphasised: “Will ensure that “Customers can stamp their names on the CRP after completing their forms without manually taking them to the stamp duties office of the Federal Inland Revenue Service. The company registration portal when fully developed will serve as a one stop company’s registration software capable of handling the stamping of incorporation documents, some post incorporation filing and other matters. The CRP has also eliminated the time of the day and day of the week to do business with the commission, adding that customers can submit their registration applications at any time including weekends and public holidays.”

  • FIRS director, mother of four arraigned for alleged tax fraud

    FIRS director, mother of four arraigned for alleged tax fraud

    A Deputy Director, Regional Tax Office of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Abumere Joseph Osagie and a mother of four, Jamila Ojora, were arraigned yesterday before the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Maitama.

    They were, in a two-count charge filed against them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), charged with criminal conspiracy and receipt of gratification.

    Osagie and  Ojora were said to have approached the Chancellor of Baze University, Abuja, Senator Ahmed Datti with  a tax assessment of N20,029,496.00  on January 27, 2016,  through a letter of intent, which he paid.

    Senator Datti was said to have later requested for the assessment certificate, which the two allegedly  refused to issue. The EFCC said rather than issue Datti with the assessment certificate, the defendants  allegedly demanded for N5million gratification.

    In a bid to establish the legitimacy of the defendants activities, EFCC’s marked N5million was delivered to Osagie through Ojora, in a sting operation, which led to her arrest. Ojora’s confession was said to have led to Osagie’s arrest.

    The offence contravenes Section 17(1)(a) and punishable under 17 (1) (c) of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000. One of the counts, reads: “Abumere Joseph Osagie and Jamila Ojora on or about January 27, 2016 in Abuja within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, corruptly accepted the sum of N5,000,000.00 (five million naira) from one Senator Ahmed Datti as a gift for having done a tax assessment for Baze University.”

  • Taxation and dis-alienation of citizens (1)

    Taxation and dis-alienation of citizens (1)

    A more optimistic view of the call on residents and companies to pay taxes is for citizens to see this as inevitable return of their sovereignty to them by those who had distracted citizens from their primary political responsibility in the past.

    There is no room for failure over FIRS’s attainment of its 2016 target of N4.97 trillion to the Federal Government. This is not a joke. We need everybody to do his/her beat to ensure that everybody contributes (sic) to the achievement of the target. The nation will depend on FIRS to fund the budget. We need the money to stabilise the economy.–Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, Finance Minister
    The subjects of every state ought to contribute to the support of the government, as nearly as possible in proportion to their respective abilities: that is, in proportion to the revenue which they respectively enjoy under the protection of the state. In the observation or neglect of this maxim consists what is called the equality or inequality of taxation. -Adam Smith in Wealth of Nations
    A democracy requires accountability and accountability requires transparency. -Barack Obama

    Nigeria has been for too long a state run on the model of landlordism by those charged with rent collection from petroleum, who generally relish treating Nigerians not as citizens but as tenants. This philosophy of governance and of citizen-state relations had not always been so. Towards the end of the colonial era, taxation at the instance of colonial administrators and later of pre-Independence political leaders applied the principle of social contract with citizens, by assuring them in their rhetoric and praxis that the taxes citizens paid would address their social needs. This was why resistance to tax by citizens, especially in Western and Eastern regions weakened until when citizens joyfully paid their taxes, particularly during Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s unmistakable use of tax funds for social programmes that citizens could identify with. Now that Nigeria has been forced by collapse of oil price to return to funding of governance through taxes from citizens and non-citizens, as it is done in most self-sustaining countries of the world, this column will return to addressing previous themes covered on this page in the past: complementary responsibility of the taker and giver of taxes in a democracy.

    In the years before the onset of military rule in 1966, especially after the civil war when the principal source of funding for the government was rent collection from sale of petroleum, it was money collected directly and indirectly from citizens, residents, and companies that drove governance. For example, most of the infrastructure and institutions created in the four regions before the 1970s derived from funds collected directly and indirectly from the people and the economic activities they engaged in.  However, continued surge in revenue from petroleum not only encouraged military rulers to create a bloated central government in terms of functions and revenue; it also drove the policy of proliferation of states and of intended or unintended alienation of citizens from governments. Military rulers (and later civilians) of the central government in particular had the courage to delete the support of citizens from consideration, once they felt there were sufficient funds from petroleum sale to create whatever appealed to the fancies of rulers-be they military or civilian between 1975 and 2015.

    Military rulers who came to power by force of arms or civilian governments rigged into power found encouragement in the assured and growing revenue from petroleum to distance citizens from the state. This policy over time kept citizens away from scrutinising how they were governed, thus saving political and bureaucratic leaders from accountability.  Military rulers were content with citizen apathy generated by alienation, as this situation made it easier for rulers to manage civil society organisations and the media that had the courage to hold rulers to account periodically.  Corruption of some members of the media and sponsoring by rulers of civil society organisations to counter those that were genuinely pro-citizens’ interests gained ground during decades of military rule. The result of such policy on the part of government, especially the central government, is estrangement or withdrawal or separation of a person’s or group’s affections from an object or group such as those in charge of governance.

    Such alienation erodes or represses citizens’ political efficacy that should have allowed them to exercise their sovereignty. Instead, a polity committed to alienating citizens created a culture in which citizens largely, in the words of Dan Hind in The Return of the Public, “accept government’s authority almost to the point of autocracy.” It has taken the election of 2015 and the ascendancy of Mohammed Buhari as president to know the dangerous implications of decades of separation between those who governed the country and those that were governed. Suddenly, citizens now get to see the difference between discussion of corruption in the media as abstract ideas and the details of corrupt acts by those charged as politicians or civil servants to serve as minders of the state.

    It is possible that if the price of petroleum had not slumped, partisan traditional and social media could still have been able to urge the public to move on and forget the past, in order to mask the details of corruption in the polity. But the coming at the same time of an austere anti-corruption president and the loss of value of petroleum in the international market has unearthed the venality of crass political and bureaucratic corruption in the country. This has also compelled those newly charged to govern the country decades after consolidation of the culture of corruption to come back to citizens for collaboration with government through putting the onus of funding the country on citizens, residents, and their businesses. The return to the public by the Finance Minister when she said, “We need everybody to do his/her beat to ensure that everybody contributes (sic) to the achievement of the target” of raising 4.97 trillion from tax to fund a the 6+ trillion budget and to stabilise the economy knowingly or unknowingly calls on citizens to take their country back from banditry of decades-long irresponsible and unresponsive governance.

    It is conceivable that many citizens who did not feel pressured for decades to pay taxes religiously because of the culture of parasitism made possible by assured flow of revenue from petroleum and stratagems on the part of military and civilian rulers to save themselves from public scrutiny are likely to feel inconvenienced by government’s demand for prompt payment of taxes to fund governance. This may be a pessimistic view of the new reality by such citizens. A more optimistic view of the call on residents and companies to pay taxes is for citizens to see this as inevitable return of their sovereignty to them by those who had distracted citizens from their primary political responsibility in the past.

    Putting as many corrupt citizens in jail after proper trial; strengthening regulatory regimes to discourage corruption, and teaching young people in all schools about the value of honesty may not end corruption, without the readiness of citizens to invoke their power to read the riot act to politicians and civil servants that abuse their office. Such readiness will be stimulated and sustained once citizens provide the bulk of funds put in the care of politicians and civil servants. If citizens want to eat the omelette of good governance, they have to be prepared to break the eggs of reading riot acts to those who rob them of their commonwealth, by enthusiastically re-claiming their ownership of the state. Citizens’ readiness to invoke their sovereignty during and after elections is now required, more than ever before, to end a culture in which representatives of citizens as members of the executive, legislative, or judicial branches of government act as if they are sole owners of the republic.

     

    To be continued

  • Minister to FIRS on N4.9tr target: don’t fail

    Minister to FIRS on N4.9tr target: don’t fail

    The Federal government has directed the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to meet the N4.957 trillion tax target for this year.

    The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, gave the directive yesterday in Abuja during the second day of the 2016 Annual Corporate Strategy Retreat of the FIRS.

    A statement from the FIRS signed by Mr Wahab Gbadamosi, Head, Communication and Servicom Department, said she  categorically warned the FIRS that “there is no room for failure over FIRS’s attainment of its 2016 target of N4.97 trillion to the Federal Government.”

    According to the minister, “there is really no room for failure. Please ensure you deliver. The nation will depend on FIRS to fund the budget. We need the money to stabilise the economy.”

    She told the workers of the FIRS that “this is not a joke. We need everybody to do his/her beat to ensure that everybody contributes to the achievement of the target. I look forward to the excellent ideas that will improve revenue generation as you proceed in this retreat.”

    Mrs Adeosun further told the FIRS workers that “in addition to your professional pride, and the satisfaction you may derive from working for FIRS as a professional, please note that you are also building the nation by realising the target and by being professional, honest and dedicated in the way you do your work. This is what the nation needs now.”

    She acknowledged the strides the FIRS has made in the past and the successes it had attained since its new Chairman, Tunde Fowler resumed. “I know your chairman as an achiever. He did very well in Lagos. Work with him. He will do well here. He is one person who has the welfare of staff on his mind.”

    In his address,  Mr Fowler said  the Service is collaborating with state governments, tax consultants, major audit firms, stakeholders in the federation, including the National Assembly.

    He said the tax agency is undertaking a nationwide Value Added Tax (VAT) and Witholding Tax Monitoring exercise and nationwide taxpayer registration exercise anchored by the FIRS Federal Engagement and Enlightenment Tax Teams (FEETT).

  • FG gives FIRS marching orders to meet N4.9tr target

    FG gives FIRS marching orders to meet N4.9tr target

    The Federal government has turned on the heat on the Federal Inland Revenue Service, (FIRS) to meet the N4.957 trillion tax target for 2016.

    A statement from the FIRS signed by Wahab Gbadamosi, Head, Communication and Servicom Department said the minister of finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, handed out the marching order Wednesday in Abuja at the second day of the 2016 Annual Corporate Strategy Retreat of the FIRS.

    The finance minister was said to have categorically warned the FIRS that “there is no room for failure over FIRS’s attainment of its 2016 target of N4.97 trillion to the Federal Government.”

    According to the finance minister, “there is really no room for failure. Please ensure you deliver. The nation will depend on FIRS to fund the budget. We need the money to stabilise the economy.”

    She told staff of the FIRS that “this is not a joke. We need everybody to do his/her beat to ensure that everybody contributes to the achievement of the target. I look forward to the excellent ideas that will improve revenue generation as you proceed in this retreat.”

    Adeosun further told the FIRS staff that “in addition to your professional pride, and the satisfaction you may derive from working for FIRS as a professional, please note that you are also building the nation by realising the target and by being professional, honest and dedicated in the way you do your work. This is what the nation needs now.”

    She acknowledged the strides the FIRS has made in the past and the successes it had attained since its new Chairman, Tunde Fowler resumed. “I know your chairman as an achiever. He did very well in Lagos. Work with him. He will do well here. He is one person who has the welfare of staff on his mind.”

    In his address, the Executive Chairman of the FIRS, Mr Tunde Fowler said, the Service is collaborating with State Governments, tax consultants, major audit firms, stakeholders in the federal system, including the National Assembly.

    He said the tax agency is undertaking a nationwide Value Added Tax and Witholding Tax Monitoring exercise and nationwide taxpayer registration exercise anchored by the FIRS Federal Engagement and Enlightenment Tax Teams, (FEETT).

  • EFCC arrests FIRS director for alleged tax fraud

    EFCC arrests FIRS director for alleged tax fraud

    •Secures jail term for suspected internet fraudster

    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arrested a Deputy Director, Regional Tax Office of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Mr. Abumere Joseph Osagie,  for allegedly attempting to extort N5 million from the Chancellor of Baze University, Abuja, Senator Ahmed Datti.

    He was arrested with one Jamila Ojora for a case of abuse of office and bribery.

    A statement by the Head, Media and Publicity of the EFCC, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, said the FIRS Deputy Director was picked following a complaint about his attempt to extort the sum of N5 million from a university proprietor.

    The statement said: “Osagie and one Jamila Ojora had on January 27, 2016 allegedly approached Senator Ahmed Datti, the Chancellor of Baze University, Abuja and gave him a tax assessment of N20,029, 496.00 through a letter of intent, which he paid.

    “However when he requested for the assessment certificate, they refused to oblige him. Instead, they allegedly demanded for N5 million gratification. All pleas by him fell on deaf ears.

    “ Consequently, he petitioned the EFCC and he was advised to play along. Consequently, marked N5 million was delivered to the director through Ojora in a sting operation.

    Ojora was arrested after she collected the N5m. Her confession led to the arrest of Osagie.

    “The houses of the suspects were searched by operatives of the EFCC and documents were recovered. Investigations continue.”

    Meanwhile, the EFCC has said it secured the conviction of one Emmanuel Eromonse Akhalu on Thursday for a 12-month jail term.

    Akhalu was said to be a member of an internet fraud syndicate, but the law caught up with him when Justice P.I. Ajoku of the Federal High Court, sitting in Benin, Edo State sentenced him to 12 months imprisonment on a three-count charge bordering on conspiracy and obtaining money under false pretence.

    The EFCC statement added: “The convict was arrested on the 27th August, 2015 by operatives of the EFCC following an intelligence report on how he had defrauded one foreigner of 1500 US Dollars in the United Kingdom

    “He was subsequently arraigned on the 12th November, 2015, where he pleaded not guilty to the charges preferred against him by the EFCC.

    “However, when trial commenced on 27th January, 2016, the defence counsel, A.O.Obodo, sought a plea bargain agreement with the prosecution counsel, R. Ikhanaede.

    “Consequently, the prosecution applied to the court to strike out counts one and three of the charges, leaving only count two, which the defendant pleaded guilty to.

    The charge reads: ‘‘That you Emmanuel Eromosele Akhalu alias Bryan Perry and others (now at large) on or about the 20th of July, 2015 in Benin City, Edo State, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, with intent to defraud, did obtain the sum of 1500 US Dollars from one James Sindelar in the United Kingdom through Western Money Union Transfer under the false pretence that you are a barrister soon to be conferred Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), a pretext you knew to be false and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section1(1)(a) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act, 2006 and punishable under Section 1(3) of the same Act.”

  • Fowler redeploys 26 directors in FIRS restructuring

    Fowler redeploys 26 directors in FIRS restructuring

    • 359,158 corporate tax payers added

    The Executive Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Babatunde Fowler, has transferred 26 directors of the service and introduced the State Coordinator structure.

    A statement by the new Head, Communication and Servicom Department, FIRS,  Wahab Gbadamosi, said “each of the 13 State Coordinators will supervise operations in their areas of jurisdictions. Two directors were moved to the headquarters in Abuja. Three will coordinate affairs in the states.”

    The statement added that “experienced deputy directors were transferred to FIRS’ Training School and centres across the country as part of the efforts of the Service to strengthen its knowledge transfer programme and expeditious development of the capacity of its workforce in the interim.”

    In the new posting, the Director of FCT and Northcentral Region, Olufemi Faniyi, was posted to the Compliance Support Group, while Innocent  Ohagwa, Director, Southsouth and Southeast Directorate Department is now Acting State Coordinator, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa and Cross River states. Gbolaga Oshiga, Director, Lagos Mainland (East and West Directorate) Department is now Acting State Coordinator, Ogun, Oyo and Osun states.  Mohammed Magam, Director, Northwest and Northeast Regions Directorate Department becomes the Acting State Coordinator, Kebbi, Sokoto and Zamfara States while Olufunlola Adediran, Director, Oil and Gas Department, Lagos, was transferred to the Office of the Coordinating Director, Domestic Tax Group in Abuja.

    “The State structure is part of the new FIRS Chairman’s vision of minimising the span of control, closer focus on corporate tax payers in all the states of the federation and stronger collaboration with State Boards of Internal Revenue (SBIR), to increase overall tax yield accruable to the three tiers of government.”

    Also, between October 13 last year and January 27 of this year,  (107 days) the FIRS registered additional 359,158 corporate tax payers under a new campaign to widen the tax net.

    “The FIRS chairman plans to add at least 500,000 new corporate tax payers by March 31, 2016.

    “Working with states under the Joint Tax Board (JTB), structure, the FIRS chairman plans to widen the tax base further by adding five million new individual taxpayers to the country-wide tax register, by December 2016,” the statement explained.

  • 26 FIRS directors redeployed

    26 FIRS directors redeployed

    The Executive Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Mr. Babatunde Fowler, has approved the redeployment of 26 directors in the service and introduced the state coordinator structure in the system.

    According to a statement signed by FIRS’ new Head, Communication and Servicom Department, Mr. Wahab Gbadadmosi, each of the 13 State Coordinators will supervise operations in their areas of jurisdictions.

    “Two directors were moved to the headquarters in Abuja. Three will coordinate affairs in the states.”

    “Experienced deputy directors were transferred to FIRS’ Training School and centres across the country as part of the efforts of the Service to strengthen its knowledge transfer programme and expeditious development of its workforce capacity in the interim,” it said.

    According to the statement, the Director of FCT and North Central Region, Olufemi Faniyi, was posted to the Compliance Support Group, while Innocent Ohagwa, Director, South-South and South-East Directorate Department is now the Acting State Coordinator, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa and Cross River States.

    “Gbolaga Oshiga, Director, Lagos Mainland (East and West Directorate) Department is now Acting State Coordinator, Ogun, Oyo and Osun States.

    “ Mohammed Magam, Director, North-West and North-East Regions Directorate Department becomes the Acting State Coordinator, Kebbi, Sokoto and Zamfara States, while Olufunlola Adediran, Director, Oil and Gas Department, Lagos, was transferred to the Office of the Coordinating Director, Domestic Tax Group in Abuja,” the statement added.

     

     

  • Tax evasion: FIRS to probe firms operating with NNPC

    Tax evasion: FIRS to probe firms operating with NNPC

    All companies operating operating with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation  (NNPC) are to be subjected to tax examination by the Federal Inland Revenue Service  (FIRS), it emerged yesterday.

    This followed the discovery during on-going House of Representatives investigation into crude for refined product exchange arrangement (oil  swap) of the NNPC that most companies operating with the NNPC do not have tax returns records with the FIRS.

    FIRS had told the Committee that following its directives, Duke Oil Global Investment refused to furnish it with tax returns.

    Duke Oil’s Managing Director Abdulkadir Seidu said the letter writen to his office was not addressed to his company.

    Invariably, the Committee asked for verification of  names and location of all compnaies in the name of Duke Oil.

    In response to questions, FIRS Coordinating Director (Domestic Taxes group), Babatunde Ajayi said a trading firm involved in the NNPC oil swap arrangement, Trafigura Nigeria Ltd has not filed any tax returns with the agency despite engaging in oil transactions in Nigeria.

    Under the swap programme, Trafigura has lifted about 12 million metric tonnes.

    Representative of the non-resident company, James Juslin had earlier during the investigative hearing, said the firm has no tax obligations to Nigeria being an international company.

  • Court adjourns ex-workers’ N480m suit against FIRS

    Justice J. D. Peters of the National Industrial Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos, has adjourned till April 14 hearing of all pending applications in a suit filed by 64 former staff of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) seeking N480 million for alleged wrongful termination of their appointment

    The ex staff, who were disengaged from service in 2013, are demanding compensation of N7.5 million each, totalling N480m for 64 of them.

    But the FIRS, through its counsel Miss Mary Okpe, urged the court to dismiss or strike out the suit for lack of jurisdiction.

    FIRS also argued that the disengaged workers’ suit is statute barred.

    It added that the claimants’ suit was extensively considered and determined by the terms of a collective bargaining agreement (MoU) dated July 25, 2007, whereof proper payment of severance benefits of all the claimants was paid.

    The disengaged workers are seeking a declaration that the termination of their appointment by the management of FIRS is a breach of contract of service, and is illegal, unlawful and void.