FIRS Boss cautions tax defaulters on impending penalty

Muhammad Nami, Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), has cautioned wilful or inadvertent tax defaulters to resume the payment of relevant federal taxes to avoid paying the steep penalties for tax default contained in the 2019 Finance Act.

The Chairman at the conclusion of his public enlightenment and sensitization tour of the South-West on Thursday said:  “Under the 2019 Finance Act, penalty for default in tax payment has been increased from N20,000 in some cases to as high as N50,000 in the first instance and N25,000 subsequently if you continue to default on paying your tax”.

Nami in a statement by Director, Communications and Liaison Department, FIRS, Abdullahi Ismaila Ahmad, stressed that on the other hand, taxpayers who file their returns three months before their due date will get the benefit of early payment and prompt action by receiving a 2 percent reduction on the amount payable.

He further urged all taxpayers in default across the country to clear their backlog of tax payments immediately to avoid sanctions from the FIRS.

The FIRS boss, who also included a tour of the Service’s offices in Apapa, Eric Moore, Iponri and Awolowo Road, Ikoyi , met directly with senior and junior FIRS officials at their workstations to obtain first-hand information on their challenges in the office and on the field, including an on-the-spot assessment of facilities and the condition under which the members of staff of these FIRS officials work.

Nami engaged the workers in down-to-earth discussions and asked pointed questions from desk to desk and floor to floor on the challenges the staffers face on the job from each staffer as he inspected these FIRS offices. He also offered swift remedial solutions to a number of issues brought up by the workers and pledged prompt resolution of others as soon as he returned the FIRS headquarters in Abuja.

The workers assured that they would redouble their efforts to meet and surpass the N8.5 trillion revenue target set for the FIRS by the President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government.