Business Owners Must File Annual Tax Returns January 31—LIRS

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

The Lagos State Internal Revenue Service (LIRS) has reminded business owners in the metropolis to file their annual tax returns on or before January 31, 2023.

In a statement signed by the Head of Corporate Communications of LIRS, Ms Monsurat Amasa, on Sunday, the agency warned that failure to do this would lead to sanctions.

“For filing the annual income tax returns in Lagos State, the only available platform is the LIRS e-Tax portal: https://etax.lirs.net.

“The e-Tax portal is built for the convenience of taxpayers and is easy, convenient and safe. All businesses and employers of labour are advised to use the e-Tax portal to file their returns,” the statement quoted the LIRS Executive Chairman, Mr Ayodele Subair, was quoted as saying.

“With the eTax system, corporate bodies are expected to find it more convenient to carry out tax transactions in the comfort of their homes and offices,” he added.

The LIRS disclosed that it would not hesitate to apply the provisions of section 81 (2) of the Personal Income Tax Act (PITA) Cap P8 LFN 2004 (as amended) for defaulters.

The Act stipulates January 31 as the deadline for filing of annual income tax returns, failing which a penalty accrues.

To be on the eTax platform, corporate bodies can visit https://etax.lirs.net, input the company’s payer ID, the password, click login, generate the bill and then make the payment.

“Taxpayer ID of all employees is compulsory for the annual income tax returns to be successfully filed on the e-Tax portal. Therefore, all employees and taxable persons within the State are advised to generate a taxpayer ID (where applicable) and file their individual annual income tax returns on the e-Tax portal,” the LIRS stated.