By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Mr Babatunde Fowler, has described the Voluntary Assets and Income Declaration Scheme (VAIDS) launched by the Federal Government on Thursday, June 29, 2017, by the Vice President, Mr Yemi Osinbajo, as a vital tool that will boost government’s revenue.
Speaking on Monday at an event organised in Abuja by the Nigeria Governors’ Forum Secretariat, the tax chief further said the scheme has already been yielding meaningful results.
According to him, a lot of Nigerians have been quality questions regarding the initiative, disclosing that with the volume of enquiries received by the tax office, Nigerians have embraced the initiative.
VAIDS was launched for defaulting Nigerian taxpayers to work out a flexible way to pay their outstanding tax liabilities due from them relating to the last six relevant tax years, regularize their tax transactions and obtain genuine tax clearance certificate for all the relevant years without fear of criminal prosecution for tax offences and with the benefit of forgiveness of interest and penalties.
The policy embraces all federal and state taxes such as Companies Income Tax, Personal Income Tax, Petroleum Profits Tax, Capital Gains Tax, Stamp Duties, Tertiary Education Tax, Technology Tax, Tenement Rates, and Property Taxes.
Taxpayers were given from July 1, 2017 to March 31, 2018 to voluntarily declare and pay their taxes and avoid being punished for defaulting.
According to Mr Fowler, since the scheme was launched about four months ago, over $50 million has been realised in revenue by the Federal Government.
“I am happy with the lot of enquires being about VAIDS both at the state and federal level, it is very impressive.
“Already, over $50 million has been realised by the Federal Government through this scheme and I will like also to use this opportunity to call on the general public to give total support to tax authorities and revenue agencies to enable us efficiently discharge our duties by collecting the needed revenue to fund government projects and services.
“Under this scheme, all taxpayers who are in default of payment will be required to voluntarily declare their income before March 31, 2018.
“We hope from this month on, all states will be complaint with remittance of VAT and holding tax as at when due. This will not only increase IGR at the state level but will also increase IGR at the federal level.
Also to address the challenges faced on VAIDS, government has proposed to access and obtain information from all categories of tax payers through the scheme.”
