Babatunde Fowler, the Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), on Thursday urged Governors and Finance Commissioners of Nigeria’s 36 states to cooperate in the timely seamless conduct of the ongoing audit of Value Added Tax (VAT) and Withholding Tax (WHT) collected through their agencies.
Addressing the National Economic Council (NEC) chaired by Acting President Yemi Osinbajo in Abuja, Fowler said the exercise is to update the of VAT and WHT remittances status of all States and MDAs by the FIRS.
He put total remittances from States in the seven months between January to July 2018, at N40.299bn.
On the Value Added Tax (VAT) and Withholding Tax (WHT) status report on States Tax Audit exercise, he put total outstanding debt of States’ MDAs at N41.047bn between 2008 and 2016.
In a brief of the NEC meeting outcome by Laolu Akande, the Vice President’s Senior Special Assistant, Fowler also used the occasion to announce that for ease of VAT/WHT collection and automatic remittances of deductions to the Treasury Single Account (TSA), FIRS has deployed a Software Payment Platform (SPP) to facilitate States, MDAs computerisation and remittances.
He reiterated the directive by Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, the Finance Minister, that Federal MDAs and States governments should verify the authenticity of Tax Clearance Certificates (TCC) online as presented by contractors before awarding contracts.
This is just as “Federal and States MDAs are enjoined to send copies of Manual TCCs issues before August 22, 2017 to FIRS for verification before awarding and making payments.”
The NEC urged state governments to encourage their MDAs to adopt the use of the Payment platform or a comparative alternative, while governors were enjoined to ensure compliance.
Also, states governors were also enjoined to direct their MDAs to cooperate with FIRS Auditors for timely completion of the States Audit exercise.