The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has set an N8 trillion revenue
target this year, its Executive Chairman Tunde Fowler said yesterday.
Prior to 2018, the highest revenue figure ever attained by the FIRS was
N5.07 trillion, which was generated in 2012 under Goodluck Jonathan.
Fowler, who spoke in Lagos at the opening of the 2019 FIRS Management
and Stakeholders Retreat tagged: “Parliamentary support for effective
taxation of the digital economy”, said the Service generated N5.320
trillion for the government last year.
He described the N5.320 trillion generated by the FIRS as remarkable,
given that it was achieved at a period when oil prices averaged $70 per
barrel compared to the period between 2010 and 2013 when oil price was
at an average of $100 to $120 per barrel.
The non-oil component of the N5.320 trillion was N2.467 trillion (53.62
per cent), while oil contributed N2.852 trillion (46.38 per cent). The
FIRS collected N212, 792 billion exclusively from audit, a figure that
arose from 2,278 cases, and with a huge reduction in audit circle.
Fowler said: “While we have been steadily increasing revenue collection
over the years, our cost of collection has actually been going down. In
2016, we collected N3, 307 trillion; in 2017, we collected N4, 027
trillion and in 2018, we collected N5, 320 trillion.
“Meanwhile, the cost of collection as a percentage of actual taxes
collected has been reducing. In 2016, it was 2.6 percent. In 2017, it
was 2.49 percent, while in 2018 it was 2.14 percent.”
He added that the Service has been working hard to ensure an increase in
the amount of non-oil revenue it collects. Non-oil collection, he
disclosed, contributed 64.99 per cent in 2016, 62.25 percent in 2017 and
53.62 percent last year.
This, he stated, is indicative of the government’s increasing focus on
non-oil revenue sources and diversification of the country’s economy.
He attributed the steady rise in the collection figures to a series of
initiatives adopted and implemented by the Service to enhance tax
administration and ease tax payment.
Among these is the deployment of ICT initiatives, which enable taxpayers
to pay taxes from anywhere in the world and at any time.
The FIRS boss said: “With the e-payment channel, one can pay taxes with
the click of a button and one can also download their receipts.
“Other e-Services are the e-Registration, e-Filing, e-Stamp Duty and
e-Tax Clearance Certificate. Taxpayers can now also choose the tax
office where they would like to conduct their tax transactions.”
Fowler said: “We are doing system-to-system integration between banks
and the FIRS. And I am happy to announce to you that we had a 31 percent
increase year on year in VAT collection in the banks that have gone
live between Jan 2017 – Dec 2018 and collected N25 billion so far.
“We are also automating the payment of VAT by states through the State
Offices of Accountant General Platform (SAG). This will ensure that we
automate and deduct at source and remittance of VAT and withholding tax
from state government contract payments directly to FIRS’s account and
so far, collected N13 billion.”
He noted that the number of taxpayers that requested for and processed
their Tax Clearance Certificate (TCC) grew from 9,574 to 59,350 within a
year of introducing the platform.