FIRS Collected N4.178trn From January To October 2020 — Nami

Despite lockdowns and slowdowns occasioned by COVID-19 pandemic, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) collected N4.178 trillion in the first 10 months of 2020, according to its executive Chairman, Mr Muhammad Nami.

At an interactive in Abuja on Monday, Nami also disclosed that upon resumption of office he met a debt of N38 billion left by his predecessor in office, Mr Babatunde Fowler.

According to him, the N4.178 trillion represents 98 per cent of prorated revenue target of N4.230 for the period.

He explained that for the entire 2020, revenue target for the service was put at N5.776 trillion adding that but for the tax palliative granted to small businesses during the period, FIRS would have fully met and probably surpassed its target.

He disclosed that some of the innovations which the service embarked upon in the last one year since he was appointed like deploying adequate information and communication technological tools, segmenting taxpayers into micro &small, medium and large as well as working closely with stakeholders such as tax agents, Federal Ministry of Finance and National Assembly.

He added that FIRS also took a collection of indirect taxes like value-added tax and stamp duties very seriously during the period.

As a result of these, he noted, FIRS contributed almost 70 per cent or over N300 billion into the Federation Account distributed monthly at the federation account allocation and committee (FAAC) in October out of the total of over N600 billion.

He appealed to Nigerians to pay their taxes voluntarily so that they will not run afoul of the law and for government to have enough to meet its responsibility to citizens.

It was also revealed that during the lockdown months of April and May, the service collected N762 billion, which compared favourably with the same period of 2019 when it collected N791 billion even when there was no lockdown.

And of the N38 billion debt left behind by his predecessor, Nami said N20 billion was officially declared while the remaining N18 billion was hidden.

He, however, disclosed that he had so far been able to defray almost 15 per cent of the debts.

The nation’s chief tax officer declared that FIRS has jettisoned the idea of confiscating thousands of houses in Abuja, Lagos and other commercial cities across the country which owners were accused of owing billions in taxes.