The Executive Chairman of Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) Mr. Babatunde Fowler, on Thursday charged the Plateau State Government to take advantage of the peculiarity of the state in terms of tax potentials and economic activities in generating needed revenue for the State.
Fowler, who was represented by the Secretary Joint Tax Board, Mr. Lawal Abubakar, gave the charge at the 2016 Plateau State Stakeholders on Taxation and Tax Performance awards, held in Jos, the State Capital.
According to him, both the states and federal government relied largely on the efforts of various tax authorities more than before given the dwindling revenue from oil.
He maintained that, for the operations of FIRS as tax authorities optimally enhanced, the Federal Inland Revenue Service and State Internal Revenue Services have outlined areas of collaborations through exchange of information, staff capacity building, joint tax audit and enlightenment among others.
Fowler added that these were conscious efforts towards bridging the gap between the federal and state governments and increasing efficiency in tax administration.
The Executive Chairman further stated that FIRS was making arrangements to automate all its collection and payment process in all sectors and on all tax types.
“In this regard, therefore, the first phase of this arrangement involves automation of Value Added Tax and Withholding Tax payment and collection processes at the office of the State Accountants General , when payments are to be made to contractors and other beneficiaries on relevant transactions”.
He further pointed out that FIRS had written a letter seeking to connect the state pay points to FIRS portal to allow seemless collection of taxes, adding that the arrangement will be more or less in favour of the state governments as 85 percent of the total VAT collections goes back to the states and local governments at 50 percent and 35 percent respectively.
In his earlier address, Acting Chairman of Plateau State Internal Revenue Services, PSIRS, Mr. Dashe Dasogot, said tax administration in the State was in the past characterized by many problems, adding that the state has commenced implementation of various actionable strategies and initiatives.
Dasogot maintained that the State had also embarked on a massive awareness campaign to sensitize the public on their tax obligations towards the state, adding that the State revenue service was also reaching out to the informal sector of the state economy to harness the IGR.
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