Business Post Contributor
By Bliss Okperan
The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has given taxpayers with outstanding tax liabilities till November 30, 2023, to clear their debts.
In a statement made available to newsmen on Monday, the nation’s tax collecting organisation said failure to meet the deadline would attract enforcement activities “in accordance with tax laws” for the recovery of all unpaid taxes.
Nigeria has been finding it difficult to generate funds to carry out day-to-day government activities. It has been reluctant to raise taxes but has embraced increasing the tax net, including having players in the informal sector.
The FIRS noted that it would be closing all desk reviews, tax audits and investigation exercises that have lingered beyond the allotted time.
According to the tax agency, taxpayers with open cases are to provide all outstanding information no later than November 30, 2023.
“Please take notice that all outstanding tax liabilities shall continue to attract interest as provided by the law until fully discharged,” the FIRS said.
Meanwhile, the FIRS said it generated N5.5 trillion as tax revenue in the half-year period of 2023, the highest tax revenue collection it had ever recorded in any first six months of a fiscal year.
Business Post reports that in July 2023, the former Chairman of the FIRS, Mr Muhammad Nami, projected that Nigeria’s tax collection in 2024 could hit N25 trillion, more than double the N10.1 trillion collected in 2022.
The administration of President Bola Tinubu has vowed to boost tax collection and to achieve this, in September, he picked his Special Adviser on Revenue, Mr Zaccheus Adedeji, as the new Chairman of the FIRS.
