FIRS lost N5.8bn to tax revultion by MDAs, others – Report

First Inland Revenue Service building in Kwara State.

The non-settlement of assessment allowances by services, divisions and organizations of government just as the House of Representatives and Senate prompted the deficiency of duty income of N5.8bn by the Federal Inland Revenue Service in 2019.

The Office of the Auditor General of the Federation unveiled this in its 2019 Annual Report on resistance, inner control, and shortcoming issues in MDAs of the Federal Government of Nigeria for the year finished December 31, 2019.

The MDAs are the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development; Federal College of Freshwater Fisheries Technology, New Bussa; Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria; Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority; Nigerian Communications Satellite Limited; Hussaini Adamu Federal Polytechnic, Jigawa State; Federal Medical Center, Keffi, Nasarawa State’ Department of Petroleum Resources; National Assembly Service Commission; and Nigerian Correctional Service.

The report said somewhere in the range of 2018 and 2019, the MDAs neglected to either dispatch one percent stamp obligation, esteem added charge, keeping expense or Pay As You Earn charge deducted from granted agreements, along these lines negating areas of the Financial Regulations and Treasury Circular gave on December 29, 2015.

As per the report, Paragraph 234(I) of the Financial Regulations expresses that ‘it is compulsory for bookkeeping officials to guarantee full consistence with the double jobs of making arrangement for the Value Added Tax and keeping charge due on supply and administrations contract and genuine settlement of same’.

It cited Paragraph 235 as saying, “Derivation of VAT, WHT, and PAYE will be transmitted to Federal Inland Revenue Service simultaneously the payee who is the subject of allowance is paid.”

As indicated by the report, the Treasury round Ref No. Attempt/A12&B12/2015 and OAGF/CAD/VOL.II/390 dated December 29, 2015 states that “1% Stamp Duty chargeable on agreement grants and the settlement be made to the significant assessment authority (Federal Inland Revenue Service).”

It said, “The review saw that the amount of N5,828,621,715.06 was how much charges not dispatched by 12 Ministries, Departments and Agencies.

“The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority has the most noteworthy measure of N2,984,887,250.00 while Federal College of Freshwater Fisheries Technology, New Bussa has minimal measure of N1,021,011.13.”