Adedapo Adesanya
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) said it generated N5.5 trillion as tax revenue in the half-year period of 2023.
The agency confirmed this in a statement on Thursday, saying it was the highest tax revenue collection it had ever recorded in any first six months of a fiscal year.
The statement noted that Mr Muhammad Nami, the Executive Chairman of the FIRS, disclosed this amount while presenting the 2023-2024 tax revenue outlook to the National Economic Council (NEC) at its meeting on Thursday, July 20, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The presentation, which contained FIRS’ 2023 Half-Year Collection Report, showed that the FIRS achieved over 100 per cent of its target for the first half of the year compared with a mid-year target of N5.3 trillion.
According to the report, tax revenue collected from the oil sector from January to June 2023 stood at N2.03 trillion, as against a target of N2.3 trillion, while non-oil tax collection stood at N3.76 trillion, as against a target of N2.98 trillion.
Mr Nami, in his presentation, further stated that the service collected a total of N1.65 trillion in tax revenues in June 2023, the highest in any single month.
Speaking to what he described as “a good head start, despite stubborn headwinds,” Mr Nami attributed the performance to improved voluntary tax compliance enabled by the automation of FIRS’ tax administrative processes.
“This is a good head start as we work towards meeting our target for the year. And it was achieved despite stubborn headwinds such as the impact of the currency redesign and 2023 General Elections on the economy in the first and second quarters of 2023,” he said.
“This half-year performance was achieved as a result of improved voluntary tax compliance by taxpayers, the continued improvement of automation of our tax administration processes, including the updated VAT filing processes, as well as our dogged engagement with stakeholders in both the formal and informal sectors of the economy,” he concluded.
Commenting on the outlook for the remainder of the year, the FIRS Executive Chairman said the country should expect “better days ahead” regarding tax revenue collection.
“We believe that the performance in the second half of the year would be better considering the continuing improvement to our tax administration processes and the positive impact of the current government’s policies on the economy,” said the Executive Chairman.
With this development, the service could well be on its way to beating the new record set in 2022 when it collected N10.1 trillion in the fiscal year.
