Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) says it was able to increase tax collection by N700 billion between 2016 and 2017 through the deployment of information and communication technology (ICT).
Speaking at the opening of 13th West African Tax Administration Forum (WATAF) in Abuja on Wednesday, Chairman of FIRS, Mr. Babatunde Fowler said in the past two years, Nigeria took the route of increasing the use of ICT in facilitating taxpayers’ compliance and introduced initiatives to improve inter-agency collaboration, all with view to enhancing tax administration and reduce tax revenue leakages.
“Our efforts in this regard has made an impact and contributed to an increase in the taxpayers roll by an additional four million taxpayers (companies and individuals) and an increase of over N700 billion (equivalent of 2 Billion US Dollars) in Tax revenues in 2017, above the taxes collected in 2016.”
According to him, the FIRS rolled out various electronic web-based taxpayers’ services to make it easier for taxpayers to register, file tax returns, stamp duty their documents and pay various taxes, obtain tax receipts and tax clearance certificates, all without having to visit the Tax office.
He told participants to always treat taxpayers with respect because “we are in the business of providing service and that the taxpayer is a key determinant of our success.”
Nigeria he said, was willing to share experience and support any West African country in implementing any of such e-taxpayers’ service initiatives.
The event also marked the formal inauguration of WATAF having attained the statutory requirements spelt out in the WATAF Agreement providing for at least five (5) countries’ ramifications for the Agreement to come in to force and in line with the requirements of the Vienna Convention.
“I must at not fail to commend the ECOWAS Commission and the good work of our colleagues, especially the past heads of various Revenue authorities from across West Africa who convened the inaugural meeting of this organisation in this very city of Abuja in 2011, to birth the vision for this Forum to provide a platform for collaboration and sharing of good practices amongst West African tax administrators.
“Today’s formal launch of WATAF as an International body in the global tax arena justifies the huge resources you have all committed over the past seven years towards the development of the tax administration in West Africa, through this Forum.”
To put the deliberations at the conference with the theme ‘Enhancing the Revenue Potential of West Africa’, in perspective, “let me mention a few of our current day realities.
“We all are aware that the business community is setting up processes and structures which our legal and tax regimes did not contemplate and are struggling to keep up with.
“Also, nowadays trade and commerce have become borderless, especially with the advent of e-commerce, hybrid financial instruments coupled with increased sophistication and ingenuity of the army of tax advisors.
“At the receiving end are the host Country and its nationals, whose governments are losing revenues that ought to have been put to use for the development.
“This further brings about stagnated growth, under development and other attendant ills in our Countries.”
Fowler said the phenomenon of Panama and Paradise papers adds frightening and thought-provoking dimensions to the mix adding “against this backdrop, it is pertinent that tax administrations in West Africa re-strategizes if they are to live up to their mandate.
“One of the viable means of checkmating the aforementioned activities is by implementing initiatives to tackle tax abuses.”
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