The Nation Newspaper

Tag: FIRS

  • CAC, FIRS to partner on e-stamping of documents

    CAC, FIRS to partner on e-stamping of documents

    The Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) is to partner with the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to ensure the integration of e-stamping module into its company registration portal (CRP).

    The aim is to create a seamless registration process and further reduce time and cost of registration of companies and other post incorporation processes in the country.

    The Registrar-General Bello Mahmud gave this hint at the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) conference in Abuja.

    Justifying the need for this partnership, Mahmud said it was part of major reforms in the Commission’s operations to make it possible for customers to pay for stamp duties and stamp their company registration documents electronically on the CRP.

    Mahmud said customers could stamp their documents on the CRP after completing their forms without manually taking them to stamp duties office of FIRS.

    He explained that CRP when fully developed would serve as a one-stop company’s registration software capable  of handling the stamping of incorporation documents, some post incorporation filings and other matters without users stepping out of their homes or offices.

    “The CRP has also eliminated the restrictions of time of the day and day of the week to transact business with the Commission,” he said, adding that customers can submit their registration applications at anytime including weekends and public holidays

    The Registrar-General said the CAC would adopt  in place measures to create log-in details for each company that is registered by it.

    The log-in details, he said will ensure that only authorized persons have access to the company’s profile to enable the operators make changes in the portal.  Such changes, Mahmud said, would include change of directors, appointment of secretaries, and increase in share capital.

    The objective, he said is to prevent corporate hijack, and ensure that only the right people make changes to the company’s records.

  • Senate probes Customs, FIRS over ‘illegal’ N567b tax cost

    The Senate yesterday started the investigation of alleged unauthorised expenditure of N567billion by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).

    The N567billion is said to be part of tax collected by the NCS and the FIRS from January 2005 to July this year.

    This is contained in a petition by a non-governmental organisation, Legislative Watch, to the Senate.

    Legislative Watch forwarded its petition to Senate President, Abubakar Bukola Saraki who referred it to the Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions.

    Part of the documents from the Federal Ministry of Finance presented to the committee by Legislative Watch alleged that the average monthly collection cost of the NCS is N2.5 billion.

    The petitioner alleged that the total amount not remitted by NCS to the Federal Government for 126 months (January 2005 to July 2015) is N315billion.

    The same document indicated that the average monthly cost of collection of the FIRS was put at N2billion which puts the total amount not remitted by FIRS over the same period at N252billion.

    The two amounted ro N567 billion as the cost of collection for both agencies.

    Its Executive Secretar, Ngozi Ihuoma, who defended the petition before the Senate Ethics, Privileges and Public Petition Committee claimed that the amount represented the seven per cent cost of tax collection paid to the NCS and the four per cent paid to the FIRS during the period.

    The petitioner claimed that the two agencies deducted the money from the amounted collected on behalf of the Federal Government without appropriation by the National Assembly contrary to the provisions of the constitution.

    Ihuoma claimed that the action of the agencies’ management contravened Sections 162 (3) and 165 of the constitution.

  • FIRS: Fowler fits the bill

    FIRS: Fowler fits the bill

    Perfect. That single word summed up my reaction to the announcement of Mr. Babatunde Fowler as Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS). It was not a word uttered on reflex, but on long and careful consideration of Fowler’s performance record on the job he has just left: Chairman, Lagos Board of Internal Revenue and Chief Executive Officer, Lagos State Inland Revenue Service (LIRS).

    Fowler, without a doubt, is coming into his new job with a stunning resume, forged in 10 years at LIRS, where he masterminded the growth of internally generated revenue of Lagos State from a monthly average of N6billion to over N20billion

    In any language, this must spell success. It did, as LIRS became a model of tax administration that other states have attempted to copy-with varying degrees of success.

    That Lagos State currently generates an average of N20 billion monthly is the outcome of the radical surgical procedure carried out by Fowler on the revenue collection apparatus of the government.

    Preparation for the surgical procedure was laid by the administration of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, which succeeded the military in 1999 when democracy returned.

    At the return of democracy, internally generated revenue, IGR, of the state stood at a measly monthly average of N600million.

    With the state’s numerous challenges and the leanness of funds coming from the Federation Account, the Tinubu administration knew its chances of fulfilling its promise of addressing the challenges were near-zero. The alternative was to find an alternative source of funding.

    The search for an alternative compelled it to look inwards.

    The state that government realised is a hub for commerce, a quality indicative of its status as a dormant, but rich mine of financial resources in the shape of IGR.

    The dormancy of the mine, without doubt, was the cause of the almost debilitating leanness of the state’s finances. The situation required a reversal, an urgent one which, over the next six years, yielded a dolphin-like leap to an average of N3.6billion monthly. That was the equivalent of 500 per cent.

    Even at that, the administration knew the state was nowhere near its potential.

    To get to the next level, it moved to refocus the tax administration system. That began in 2005 with the appointment of Fowler as the Chairman, Lagos Board of Internal Revenue and Chief Executive Officer of LIRS.

    Before the appointment of Fowler, a US-trained economist, business administrator and banker of vast experience, the government had sent a bill to the state legislature, seeking to make the Board of Internal Revenue an autonomous and self-accounting body.

    The bill, passed into law in 2006, made it the first autonomous revenue board in the country.

    What followed was the implementation of radical changes in tax administration. But it was by no means a cakewalk.

    Fowler and his team at LIRS were taking on a monster in form of widespread tax avoidance, a task not many would relish undertaking. The LIRS kicked off in 2006 by breaking down barriers to voluntary tax compliance. This was achieved through making tax assessment and payment easier by establishing mini-tax offices in markets around the state.

    Currently, there are about 50 of such offices across the state. Two years later, it introduced the Self Assessment Filing System for individuals, a tax regime that allows the taxpayer compute his own tax liability, pay the tax due and produce evidence of payment.

    The system has ensured that individuals could conveniently pay their taxes at any of the 1,200 branches of the designated banks and the LIRS tax stations. It has also made it possible for taxpayers to obtain their receipts within 72 hours of payment. Alongside that ran a heavy public enlightenment campaign to raise awareness among businesses and individuals on how their taxes would benefit citizens, communities and commerce in the state.

    An important part of the campaign was the use of prominent Lagos residents across tribal, religious and professional lines in testimonial adverts on the importance of fulfillment of  tax obligations.

    LIRS also designed its system in a way that ensures that all payment to the Lagos Internal Revenue Board are made directly to designated revenue collecting banks for the state. All of these are electronically linked to databases that issue electronic receipts to tax payers. In addition, LIRS  introduced personal electronic tax clearance cards (e-TCC), the first of its type in the country. These measures banished the opacity that characterised tax collection in the past, as the process became more transparent to tax payers, who were granted access to their records via the internet.

    The results were astounding. Between 2008 and 2012, the average monthly IGR of the state rose from N18.9 billion to N23billion. During the 2012 Annual Public Lecture of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, ICAN, Governor Babatunde Fashola proudly declared that Lagos State IGR accounted for over 65 per cent of government revenue, making the state considerably less reliant on funds from the Federation Account. Inline image

    Data from the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, and Joint Tax Board, JTB, confirmed Fashola’s claim as well as the success LIRS has engineered. Released in December 2013, the figures showed that Lagos State generated more revenue than any other state of the federation between 2010 and 2012. The figures show that the state generated N185.9 billion in 2010, N202.76 billion in 2011 and N219.2 billion in 2012.

    Of the N219.2 billion in 2012, Lagos earned the highest revenue of   N172.44 billion from PAYE.  The sum  of   N4.36 billion came from road taxes, N1.89 billion from direct assessment of companies domiciled in the state, while N40.513 billion came from other revenue sources.

    About N120.25 billion was earned through PAYE in 2011; N7.97 billion from direct assessment, and N74.54 billion from other sources, while N104.681 billion came from PAYE in 2010; N7.51 billion from direct sources, and N73.704 billion from other sources.

    Oil-rich Rivers State placed a distant second on the chart, earning N49.59 billion in 2010; N57.19 billion in 2011 and N66.28 billion in 2012.  The sum of N55.1 billion came from PAYE in 2012; N485.9 million through road taxes; N22.075 million through direct tax assessment and N10.668 million through other revenue sources.

    The figures showed, convincingly, that Lagos is the only state in the federation capable of doing without funds from the Federation Account.

    Fowler’s tenure at LIRS attracted interests from many states, including Delta, Edo, Osun, Oyo, Ekiti, Kano and Bayelsa, to study the model and adopt methods bequeathed by Fowler. Square peg in a similarly shaped hole? You bet.

     

    • Tiewei, an accountant, lives in Lagos
  • FIRS: Fowler fits the bill

    FIRS: Fowler fits the bill

    Perfect. That single word summed up my reaction to the announcement of Mr. Babatunde Fowler as Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS). It was not a word uttered on reflex, but on long and careful consideration of Fowler’s performance record on the job he has just left: Chairman, Lagos Board of Internal Revenue and Chief Executive Officer, Lagos State Inland Revenue Service (LIRS).

    Fowler, without a doubt, is coming into his new job with a stunning resume, forged in 10 years at LIRS, where he masterminded the growth of internally generated revenue of Lagos State from a monthly average of N6billion to over N20billion

    In any language, this must spell success. It did, as LIRS became a model of tax administration that other states have attempted to copy-with varying degrees of success.

    That Lagos State currently generates an average of N20 billion monthly is the outcome of the radical surgical procedure carried out by Fowler on the revenue collection apparatus of the government.

    Preparation for the surgical procedure was laid by the administration of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, which succeeded the military in 1999 when democracy returned.

    At the return of democracy, internally generated revenue, IGR, of the state stood at a measly monthly average of N600million.

    With the state’s numerous challenges and the leanness of funds coming from the Federation Account, the Tinubu administration knew its chances of fulfilling its promise of addressing the challenges were near-zero. The alternative was to find an alternative source of funding.

    The search for an alternative compelled it to look inwards.

    The state that government realised is a hub for commerce, a quality indicative of its status as a dormant, but rich mine of financial resources in the shape of IGR.

    The dormancy of the mine, without doubt, was the cause of the almost debilitating leanness of the state’s finances. The situation required a reversal, an urgent one which, over the next six years, yielded a dolphin-like leap to an average of N3.6billion monthly. That was the equivalent of 500 per cent.

    Even at that, the administration knew the state was nowhere near its potential.

    To get to the next level, it moved to refocus the tax administration system. That began in 2005 with the appointment of Fowler as the Chairman, Lagos Board of Internal Revenue and Chief Executive Officer of LIRS.

    Before the appointment of Fowler, a US-trained economist, business administrator and banker of vast experience, the government had sent a bill to the state legislature, seeking to make the Board of Internal Revenue an autonomous and self-accounting body.

    The bill, passed into law in 2006, made it the first autonomous revenue board in the country.

    What followed was the implementation of radical changes in tax administration. But it was by no means a cakewalk.

    Fowler and his team at LIRS were taking on a monster in form of widespread tax avoidance, a task not many would relish undertaking. The LIRS kicked off in 2006 by breaking down barriers to voluntary tax compliance. This was achieved through making tax assessment and payment easier by establishing mini-tax offices in markets around the state.

    Currently, there are about 50 of such offices across the state. Two years later, it introduced the Self Assessment Filing System for individuals, a tax regime that allows the taxpayer compute his own tax liability, pay the tax due and produce evidence of payment.

    The system has ensured that individuals could conveniently pay their taxes at any of the 1,200 branches of the designated banks and the LIRS tax stations. It has also made it possible for taxpayers to obtain their receipts within 72 hours of payment. Alongside that ran a heavy public enlightenment campaign to raise awareness among businesses and individuals on how their taxes would benefit citizens, communities and commerce in the state.

    An important part of the campaign was the use of prominent Lagos residents across tribal, religious and professional lines in testimonial adverts on the importance of fulfillment of  tax obligations.

    LIRS also designed its system in a way that ensures that all payment to the Lagos Internal Revenue Board are made directly to designated revenue collecting banks for the state. All of these are electronically linked to databases that issue electronic receipts to tax payers. In addition, LIRS  introduced personal electronic tax clearance cards (e-TCC), the first of its type in the country. These measures banished the opacity that characterised tax collection in the past, as the process became more transparent to tax payers, who were granted access to their records via the internet.

    The results were astounding. Between 2008 and 2012, the average monthly IGR of the state rose from N18.9 billion to N23billion. During the 2012 Annual Public Lecture of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, ICAN, Governor Babatunde Fashola proudly declared that Lagos State IGR accounted for over 65 per cent of government revenue, making the state considerably less reliant on funds from the Federation Account. Inline image

    Data from the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, and Joint Tax Board, JTB, confirmed Fashola’s claim as well as the success LIRS has engineered. Released in December 2013, the figures showed that Lagos State generated more revenue than any other state of the federation between 2010 and 2012. The figures show that the state generated N185.9 billion in 2010, N202.76 billion in 2011 and N219.2 billion in 2012.

    Of the N219.2 billion in 2012, Lagos earned the highest revenue of   N172.44 billion from PAYE.  The sum  of   N4.36 billion came from road taxes, N1.89 billion from direct assessment of companies domiciled in the state, while N40.513 billion came from other revenue sources.

    About N120.25 billion was earned through PAYE in 2011; N7.97 billion from direct assessment, and N74.54 billion from other sources, while N104.681 billion came from PAYE in 2010; N7.51 billion from direct sources, and N73.704 billion from other sources.

    Oil-rich Rivers State placed a distant second on the chart, earning N49.59 billion in 2010; N57.19 billion in 2011 and N66.28 billion in 2012.  The sum of N55.1 billion came from PAYE in 2012; N485.9 million through road taxes; N22.075 million through direct tax assessment and N10.668 million through other revenue sources.

    The figures showed, convincingly, that Lagos is the only state in the federation capable of doing without funds from the Federation Account.

    Fowler’s tenure at LIRS attracted interests from many states, including Delta, Edo, Osun, Oyo, Ekiti, Kano and Bayelsa, to study the model and adopt methods bequeathed by Fowler. Square peg in a similarly shaped hole? You bet.

     

    • Tiewei, an accountant, lives in Lagos
  • President appoints Fowler as FIRS chief executive

    President appoints Fowler as FIRS chief executive

    •Gusau is DG Budget Office

    President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday appointed Dr. Williams Babatunde Fowler as the Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).

    This was announced in a statement issued by the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina.

    Fowler will serve as Acting Executive Chairman until his appointment is confirmed by the Senate.

    Before his appointment, Dr. Fowler was the Chief Executive Officer/Executive Chairman of the Lagos State Board of Internal Revenue from 2005 to 2014.

    The statement reads: “He had his higher education in the United States where he obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Economics  from the University of Wisconsin and a Master of Business Administration degree from the California State University.

    “Before joining the service of the Lagos State Government, Dr. Fowler worked in the banking sector for about 20 years . He was at Credit Lyonnais Nigeria Limited and Chartered Bank.

    “Under his leadership, the Lagos State Board of Internal Revenue achieved a sharp increase in internally generated revenue from an average of N3.6. billion per month in January 2006, to an average of about N20.5 billion per month in 2013.

    “Fowler, who holds an Honorary Doctorate Degree of the Irish International University, is a Fellow of the  Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria and the Business Management Association of the United Kingdom,” it stated

    President Buhari has also appointed Mr. Aliyu Yahaya Gusau as Director-General , Budget Office of the Federation.

    Gusau’s appointment, the statement said, is effective from August 18, 2015 and is for a term of four years, renewable for another four years, unless he attains the retirement age of 60 years or completes 35 years of pensionable service.

  • Buhari appoints new FIRS Chairman, DG Budget office

    Buhari appoints new FIRS Chairman, DG Budget office

    President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday appointed Dr. William Babatunde Fowler as the Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).

    Fowler’s appointment was announced in a statement issued by the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina.

    Fowler will serve as Acting Executive Chairman of FIRS until his appointment is confirmed by the Senate.

    Before his appointment, Dr. Fowler was the Chief Executive Officer/Executive Chairman of the Lagos State Board of Internal Revenue from 2005 to 2014.

    The statement reads: “He had his higher education in the United States where he obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Wisconsin and a Master of Business Administration degree from the California State University.

    “Before joining the service of the Lagos State Government, Dr. Fowler worked in the banking sector for about 20 years with long stints at Credit Lyonnais Nigeria Limited and Chartered Bank.

    “Under his leadership, the Lagos State Board of Internal Revenue reportedly achieved a sharp increase in internally generated revenue from an average of N3.6. billion per month in January 2006, to an average of about N20.5 billion per month in 2013.

    “Fowler, who holds an Honorary Doctorate Degree of the Irish International University, is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria and the Business Management Association of the United Kingdom.” It stated

    President Buhari has also appointed Mr. Aliyu Yahaya Gusau as Director-General , Budget Office of the Federation.

    Gusau’s appointment, the statement said, is with effect from August 18, 2015 and is for a term of four years, renewable for another four years, unless he attains the retirement age of 60 years or completes 35 years of pensionable service.

  • Govt opens Treasury Single Account for NNPC, FIRS, Customs, others

    Govt opens Treasury Single Account for NNPC, FIRS, Customs, others

    ALL monies accruing to the Federal Government will henceforth be remitted into a Treasury Single Account (TSA), it was learnt yesterday.

    Vice President Prof Yemi Osinbajo, who broke the news in a statement by his media aide, Mr. Laolu Akande, said President Muhammadu Buhari directed all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to be paying into the TSA all government revenues, incomes and other receipts.

    The MDAs include: Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN); Security and Exchange Commission (SEC); Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC); Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA); National Communications Commission (NCC); Federal Aviation Authority (FAAN) and Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).

    Others are: Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA); Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC); Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC); Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC); Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR); Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS); Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) and Ministry of Mines and Steel Development (MMSD).

    The vice president said the directive was part of measures specifically designed to promote transparency and facilitate compliance with Sections 80 and 162 of the 1999 Constitution.

    The statement reads: “Henceforth, all receipts due to the Federal Government or any of its agencies must be paid into TSA or designated accounts maintained and operated in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), except otherwise expressly approved

    “A TSA is a unified structure of government bank accounts enabling consolidation and optimal utilisation of government cash resources.

    “It is a bank account or a set of linked bank accounts through which the government transacts all its receipts and payments and gets a consolidated view of its cash position at any given time.

    “This presidential directive would end the previous public accounting situation of several fragmented accounts for government revenues, incomes and receipts, which in the recent past has meant the loss or leakages of legitimate income meant for the Federation Account.

    The new directive was in fulfillment the promise President Buhari made to state governors at the inaugural meeting of the National Economic Council (NEC) in June.

    At the meeting, the President assured them that all revenues prescribed for lodgment into the Federation Account will be channeled to the proper account under his watch.

    He also promised to ensure strict compliance with all relevant laws on accounting, allocation and disbursement of national revenue.

    Osinbajo said the presidency has since been working with relevant agencies of the Federal Government to evolve the new policy directive.

    According to the statement, “this directive applies to fully funded organs of government like the Ministries, Departments, Agencies and Foreign Missions, as well as the partially funded ones, like Teaching Hospitals, Medical Centres, Federal Tertiary Institutions among others.

    “Agencies like the CBN, SEC, CAC, NPA, NCC, FAAN, NCAA, NIMASA, NDIC, NSC, NNPC, FIRS, NCS, MMSD and DPR are also affected.

    For any agency that is fully or partially self-funding, sub-accounts linked to TSA are to be maintained at CBN and the accounting system will be configured to allow them access to funds based on their approved budgetary provisions.

  • FIRS collects N2.37t revenue in six months

    FIRS collects N2.37t revenue in six months

    • Seeks Central Tax System

    THE Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has so far  collected about N1.97trillion of its target revenue in the first-half of  the year, the Acting Executive Chairman, Sunday S. Ogungbesan, has said.

    However, with the N381.02 billion so far realised last month, the collection  stands at N2.37trillion as at end of July, 2015.

    Ogungbesan, who spoke in Lagos at an interactive session with the reporters over the weekend, said what has been realised, is equivalent of 86 per cent of the N2.23trillion target revenue expected between January-June, this year.

    He said of the N4.57trillion  expected yearly collectable revenue, Value Added Tax (VAT), is projected to contribute  N1.28trillion, adding that as at June ending, N390.96billion, representing 61 per cent, has been realised out of the set target of N641.85billion for the first-half of the year.

    Also, going by the revenue agency’s projection, Petroleum Profit Tax (PPT), is expected to contribute N1.48trillion to the revenue profile this year. Out of this amount, N697.18billion of the projected N742.44billion for the first-half of the year,  equivalent of 94 per cent, has been collected.

    Ogungbesan, who spoke on a wide range of issues, said there was need to have a Central Tax Administration System in the country, pointing out that the existing 36  states tax structure was not effective and does not make for an efficient tax system.  He said tax payers, especially small and medium scale enterprises and commercial entities  across the nation,are burdened with multiple taxes.

    He said the FIRS has a list of 450,000 registered companies in its register, but regretted that of this number, only 125,000 pay tax to the government, “we don’t even know who the business owners, are,” Ogungbesan, lamented.

    He said the FIRS is reordering its tax collection strategy, by  engaging tax payers and dialoguing with them, rather than continuing with the present combative method, which he stated, has not been helpful.

    “I have been talking to my people on the need to change tactics. I believe that we should keep the companies going rather than closing them,” he said, adding that certain measures the tax authority took to shame tax defaulters, felt flat on its face without achieving the intended objective.

  • FIRS realises N1.97trn revenue

    FIRS realises N1.97trn revenue

    The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) says it generated N1.97 trillion in revenue in the first half of this year.

    Its Acting Executive Chairman, Mr Sunday Ogungbesan, made the disclosure at in Lagos at the weekend.

    He said that the figure represented 98 per cent of the targeted revenue of N2.28 trillion between January and June 2015.

    Ogungbesan said the Federal Government gave FIRS a revenue target of N4.57 trillion for the whole of 2015.

    He said that Nigeria had the potential to generate more tax revenue if there was a better tax administration system in the country.

    The FIRS boss said that his agency was just one of the 37 tax authorities in the country.

    He said the FIRS were administering tax at the federal level, while each state administered its own.

    Ogungbesan called for more collaboration among all the tax authorities in the country.

    He said that while the FIRS had 6,900 workers across the country, tax authorities in the states could also strengthen their workforce instead of depending on consultants.

    He expressed regret that while there were 450,000 registered companies in the country, only about 125 were actually contributing taxes.

    Ogungbesan said that the rest were portfolio businesses whose promoters were still probably in government services.

    He said that there was the need to review some complex laws inhibiting tax administration in the country.

    The FIRS boss also called for a centralised tax administration system, stressing that his agency was already discussing the issue at the level of the Joint Tax Board.

    He also called for a strong database on all tax payers as obtained in developed economies.

    Ogungbesan said there were myriad of other problems bedeviling tax administration in the country which included the large informal sector and false tax declarations.

    He said the Federal Government would have increased the Value Added Tax (VAT) from five to 10 per cent in July, but this was postponed because of the need to consult stakeholders widely.

    Ogungbesan, however, said that the Federal Government was not even implementing the classical VAT system.

  • N1.38b tax dispute: Ashaka Cement sues FIRS

    A manufacturing company, Ashaka Cement Plc, has sued the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) before the Tax Appeal Tribunal, North West Zone sitting in Kaduna over a N1.38 billion tax dispute.

    The suit was filed by company before the tribunal chaired by Justice Bashir Albasu.

    Other members of the panel are Eberechi Adele (SAN), Joshua Waklek,  Khadeeja Halilu and Dr Olumhense Imoisili.

    In its statement of claim, Ashaka Cement Company expressed disagreement with  the tax assessment made by the FIRS and prayed  the tribunal to review the decision.

    It said that in December 2014, the respondent (FIRS) commenced a Tax Audit Exercise on the appellant company for the  2013 financial year.

    “Subsequent to the exercise, the respondent issued an invitation/demand notice dated December 2, 2014 on the appellant assessing unpaid tax liabilities which the its representatives attended on December 15,2014.

    “The invitation/demand notice contained the breakdown of the assessment made by the respondent.

    “The appellant received the said letter on the December 4, 2014. The appellant responded to the said notice by an objection letter dated December 22,2014 and served it on the respondent on December 29,2014,”Ashaka Cement said.

    According to the company, the service of the objection letter was preceded by a reconciliation meeting held between the appellant’s representatives and the respondent’s representatives on December 15,2014.

    The appellant claimed that vital issues contained in the respondent’s notice were discussed and ironed out.

    Ashaka Cement argued that the grounds of objection raised by in its notice was a reflection of issues raised, canvassed and agreed upon at the reconciliation meeting.

    It noted that the company assessed its tax liability on technical fees based on estimate only and all supporting documents were attached in form of appendixes 1-12.

    “The relevant regulations require that technical fees computations prepared by an operating entity in Nigeria be reviewed and certified by a qualified chartered accountant. In this instance, the appellant has only made estimate of technical fees payable. This has not been certified or paid,” the company said.

    The company said despite the reconciliation meeting held between the parties, the respondent on the January 6,2015 finally issued a notice of refusal to amend the assessment.

    Ashaka Cement said it further wrote to FIRS on March 2, 2015 and April 16, 2015, asking the tax agency to reconsider its position by reviewing the assessment of the Tax Audit Exercise for the year 2013.

    The company said the request was declined which prompted it to instruct its counsel to file an appeal with the Tax Appeal Tribunal but could not do so within the statutory 30 days allowed by the Company Income Tax Act.

    Counsel to the appellant, Mr A. Dauda  informed the tribunal last week that steps had been taken to effect service of the required processes on IRS, the respondent organization.

    In a related development, hearing in the tax dispute between the Kaduna State Board of Internal Revenue and Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, with respect to unremitted personal income tax of over N6 billion has commenced before the Tribunal.