Nigerian Tax Roll Hits 13 Million – Says FIRS
State tax authorities have added 3, 414, 496 million new taxpayers, to the national tax register under six months, it was learnt yesterday.
This brings the total number of individual taxpayers in the country to 13.4 million.
Kano State led the new taxpayer roll with about one million taxpayers (944, 376). Lagos followed with 320,000 new taxpayers. Plateau State is 3rd with 296,910, while Kaduna added 235,812 new tax paying men and women within the period. Zamfara State is 5th on the list of new taxpayers’ table with 136,773.
Chairman Joint Tax Board, JTB, Mr. Tunde Fowler, who is also the Executive Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), disclosed this at the Transcorp Hilton in Abuja yesterday, at the 136th meeting of the board.
Fowler noted that though the new 3.4 million roll of new taxpayers is cheering news, it is still a far cry of tax to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ratio of 30 per cent which is the average in most developed countries.
At the event, the FIRS Chairman; the Comptroller General of the Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, Col. Hameed Ali, (Rtd); Corps Marshal of the Federal Road Safety Commission, FRSC, Mr. Boboye Oyeyemi; Comptroller General of Nigeria Immigration Service, (NIS) Mr. Mohammed Babandede, — who was represented by Mr. N. E Graham-, discussed how robust inter-agency cooperation could enhance tax compliance and optimize revenue collection.
The Chief Executive Officers of the four agency heads, along with chairmen of the State Boards of Internal Revenue, also came up with fresh ideas on how real-time data sharing, automation of processes and operations by all SBIRs, revenue stakeholders, inter-operability of their databases, could enhance revenue generation and assist Nigeria to bake a bigger revenue cake.
The target of the JTB is to increase the number of individual taxpayers to 20 million, by December 2016.
The JTB Chairman noted that about 10 states are already sharing Withholding Tax (WHT) and Value Added Tax (VAT) data with the FIRS under the VAT data automation project.
This, he explained, is made possible by deployment of Information Communication Technology (ICT), equipment and installation of requisite software across the states.
Soon, the JTB Chairman promised, the Taxpayers Identification Number (TIN) cards would be upgraded to hold robust taxpayer data which all State Boards of Internal Revenue (SBIRs), FIRS and authorised stakeholders could query for taxpayer data status.
He announced too, that the collaboration between FIRS and the SBIRs was yielding fruits as their teams now conduct joint audits, share information on unremitted taxes and taxpayer education in many states among others.
Said the JTB Chairman, who was congratulated by chairmen of SBIRs on account of his election as Chairman African tax Administration Forum, ATAF: “I wish to strongly advise that we intensify and renew our focus towards achieving efficient tax system ramifications. Specially, I would like us to increase the level of our engagement with taxpayers of all categories and double our efforts in interaction and exchange of information as tax authorities’’.
The FIRS Chairman who stated that the JTB must renew its tax registration drive, alluded to the social contract theory which underpins tax payment: “If citizens benefit from the goods or dividends of democracy: health, good roads, security, environment to do business; they must be encouraged to contribute to the commonwealth by paying their taxes. States cannot be said to have succeeded or to be working, if the FIRS is not succeeding or is not working. In the same vein, FIRS cannot be said to be succeeding, or working, if the state revenue authorities have not succeeded or are not working. We need to contune the drive for more taxpayers at the state and federal levels.
Wahab Gbadamosi
Head, Communications and SERVICOM Department
