THE Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), has denied owing the rivers State government the sum of N50 billion, saying, as a responsible corporate organisation, it has not defaulted in meeting its tax obligations to the Rivers State Internal Revenue Services (RIRS).
The interventionist agency, in a release issued on Wednesday by its Director, Corporate Affairs, Charles Odili, said it was therefore surprising that the state revenue agency was claiming an outstanding N50,000,000.00.
Noting that “our records show that this is not correct,” NDDC, in the release, said, it was rather curious that the RIRS would rush to seal the gates of the commission, disrupting activities at its headquarters, Port Harcourt, without any form of notification.
“We have had cause to discuss our tax obligations with officials of the RIRS in the past and all the grey areas were resolved amicably. It is, therefore, an act of bad faith for the revenue agency to begin to take actions that impugn on the reputation of an interventionist agency that is serving the people of the Niger Delta region.
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“For the avoidance of doubt, the commission has as recently as January this year settled its outstanding tax obligations to the RIRS. We have cleared all Withholding Tax (WHT) on enterprises and Pay As You Earn (PAYE) up to March 2019, including arrears.
“If there is any other issue of outstanding tax obligation (underpayment), it will only come up after reconciliation. Until then, we cannot establish or determine underpayment or overpayment. And our books are open for audit or reconciliation.
“It is not right for only one party to claim to have established that there is underpayment or overpayment. That can only come to play after a thorough audit exercise.
“We can under the circumstances safely say that the RIRS came to seal off our premises without due process, as notice of non-compliance was neither issued nor served on NDDC before the RIRS action,” the statement read.
The interventionist agency, therefore, calls on the RIRS to remove the sealing order on its premises to enable both parties to enter into dialogue to agreeably resolve the differences between them.