Posted by By AMECHI OGBONNA on
Designated local and foreign financial institutions currently feeding fat from the Federal Government foreign currency denominated tax receipts due to the cumbersome tracking and reconciliation procedure at the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) may need to look elsewhere for cheap income as the Service looks determined to block all avenues of questionable income.
Designated local and foreign financial institutions currently feeding fat from the Federal Government foreign currency denominated tax receipts due to the cumbersome tracking and reconciliation procedure at the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) may need to look elsewhere for cheap income as the Service looks determined to block all avenues of questionable income.
The FIRS, Federal Government statutory tax revenue collection agency declared Monday that it has opened 24 separate dedicated domiciliary accounts along various tax types in which government foreign tax receipts can be paid.
The account which became functional from March 1, 2006 were opened with JP Morgan Chase New York for dollar denominated taxes, JP Morgan Chase, London, United Kingdom for pounds sterling taxes and JP Morgan Chase, Frankfurt, Germany for Euro and pounds sterling denominated taxes.
The opening of the new account may have been prompted by certain unpalatable experiences of the service in tracking the payments including the alleged conversion of the part of the foreign taxes to naira by the local banks without the permission of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) or the FIRS.
Head of Process Operations Division of the FIRS, Mr Y.M Amazah who addressed stakeholders from Lagos and Port Harcourt at a one-day sensitization workshop said the new account would enable institutions with tax obligation to government to pay and promptly obtain their receipts.
In addition, he said the account would assist the FIRS to track and reconcile tax payments by stakeholders unlike the old practice where it was difficult to collect even bank balances.
He declared that the cumbersome old system in which the service ran a joint account with several agencies of government created much room for abuse as a result of the delays encountered by it in respect of tax payments, account balances and other relevant procedures.
While the old system lasted, Amazah noted that proper supervision; monitoring and reconciliation were difficult as foreign banks delayed tax remittances unduly. In addition, tax payments meant for FIRS were sometimes erroneously credited in favour of other revenue generating agencies whose collections were also received into the same account.
According to him, details of commissions charged on such transactions were not known while credit advice from the CBN were most of the times delayed for between three-four months.
In other instances, details of such payment notices sent to FIRS by tax payers sometimes do not tally with those on credit advice by the CBN even for same transactions.
Amazah declared that with the opening of the account, tax payers who were yet to migrate to the new payment system are advised to comply.
Also speaking at the occasion, Mr Mac Dike, Tax Controller in charge of Oil and Gas in the FIRS expressed optimism that the new payment system would enhance the tax collection process at the service.
However, some tax consultants and stakeholders expressed fears that the bureaucracy of the civil service may hamper the implementation of the new payment system.
For instance, Mr Tunde Oni, President of Ebony Consults Ltd, a tax consulting firm, advised that Nigeria policy makers should endeavour to borrow the example of other nations with efficient tax administration system.