The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has begun a tax audit of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in its bid to ascertain and remit all tax revenues due to the government into the Federation Account.
This was disclosed by the Executive Chairman, FIRS, Mr. Babatunde Fowler, who said the audit was being carried out as part of measures aimed at boosting tax revenue in the 2016 fiscal period.
Fowler revealed that the FIRS had received approval from the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, to begin a joint audit of all Ministries, Departments and Agencies of the government.
He said the need for the joint audit arose owing to the fact that the arrangement where government agencies were to deduct Withholding Tax and Value Added Tax from contractors and remit same to the Federation Account had not yielded the desired results, adding that all banks operating in the country must ensure that all tax revenues of government were remitted to the Federation Account.
The FIRS boss expressed optimism that with the new measures put in place by the agency, the country would from March begin to see an increase in the level of compliance by the MDAs on Withholding Tax and VAT. He commended the FIRS for rising up to the challenge of funding the budget through tax revenue as a result of the decline in oil revenue.
He, however, drew the attention of the FIRS to queries raised by the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation about the non-disclosure of the four per cent cost of collection in the agency’s statement of accounts.
