With pressure trailing the passage of the new tax reform bills at the National Assembly, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has said it did not include four per cent collection charge in the new bills.

Speaking with newsmen in Lagos, the Deputy Director/Head, Treaties of FIRS, Mr. Kehinde Kajesomo, explained that the Service had been inundated with reports that FIRS factored in four per cent collection charge in the bills.

According to him, FIRS has never engaged in the fixing of collection charge since its inception, saying that it is within the purview of the National Assembly to determine the non-oil sector collection.

Kajesomo explained that there was no four per cent collection charge in the new bills, insisting that it was NASS that determines the percentage for collection for FIRS in order to meet up with its functions and responsibilities.

The FIRS deputy director noted that the Service had been collecting higher revenue for FAAC, which is being shared by three tiers of government.

Kajesomo said: “There is nothing like that in this tax reform bills. In fact, in the old bill it is not there. What government, that’s National Assembly, in their wisdom does is that when we present our budget, they look at how much out of this revenue of FIRS will be able to finance their activities, because they need to pay staff, they need to have offices, deploy technology and all those expenses (overhead costs).

“So the National Assembly in their wisdom looks at how much percentage of our collection can meet up these responsibilities.

So over the years, the National Assembly in their wisdom annually have been determining that four per cent. “So you go to the present FIRS establishment Act, where it says that the National Assembly should determine the rate of the non-oil collection.

So it is actually not even on all non-oil collections. “So the National Assembly at present is looking at this. So when this new bill is passed as I said, it is still the same National Assembly in their wisdom that will still determine that percentage for FIRS.

“So they will look at the functions of FIRS that will determine to take care of their functions and responsibilities. “Because don’t forget, if you want an organisation to perform, you have to fund them properly.

Even the Federal Government can testify that for the past few years, it is the FIRS that has been bringing in money to the FAAC table.

“So if you want them to continue consistently to bring monies for sharing, you have to increase their needs and capacity to collect these monies that are being shared by FAAC. “So that is the position of the bill there is no four per cent collection stated in the bill.”

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