By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Tax defaulters in Nigeria will have their bank accounts debited to clear their liabilities, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has said.
A statement issued by the tax agency on Wednesday disclosed that this is part of the efforts it was taking to recover the debts from defaulters.
Nigeria has been witnessing a significant revenue shortfall and the federal government has been doing everything possible to raise funds from several available sources to run the nation.
Recall that the Governor of Edo State, Mr Godwin Obaseki, said last month that the country was in a serious fiscal mess to the point that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) was asked to print about N60 billion to augment the revenue shared monthly among the federal, state and local governments.
“When we got FAAC for March, the federal government printed additional N50 to N60 billion to top-up for us to share.
“This April, we will go to Abuja and share. By the end of this year, our total borrowing is going to be within N15 to N16 trillion.
“Imagine a family that is just borrowing without any means to pay back and nobody is looking at that, everybody is looking at 2023, everybody is blaming Mr President as if he is a magician,” Mr Obaseki has said at the Edo State transition committee stakeholders engagement.
But the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, who admitted that there was truly a shortfall of N50 billion in the revenue for the month, claimed the CBN did not print money to augment it, though she said the Governors mounted pressure on the government to do so.
With this issue at hand, the FIRS is looking to boost the nation’s earnings by pouncing on tax defaulters and has considered gaining access into their bank accounts as a result of “rising cases of wilful and illegal withholding of taxes collected by companies, corporations, Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) and other agents of collection.”
Also, the agency plans to “recover taxes due from the defaulters’ asset in the custody of any person, including but not limited to sums standing to its credit with a financial institution in Nigeria.”
The statement signed by the Director of Communication, Mr Abdullahi Ahmad, disclosed that notices have been served to all companies, corporate entities and other agents of collection” and they have been given 30 days to pay all outstanding tax liabilities to the FIRS.
Adedapo Adesanya