Our Mandate is To Collect Taxes, Not Grant Waivers – FIRS

The Executive Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Muhammad Nami, has clarified that the mandate of the Service is to collect taxes due to the federation and the Federal Government and not to grant tax waivers to any taxpayer.

Nami stated this yesterday in Abuja. In a statement signed by Johannes Oluwatobi Wojuola, the Special Assistant to the FIRS ‘ Executive Chairman, Media and Communication, Nami was said to be reacting to reports that some companies like Dangote, Sinotruck Limited, Lafarge, Honeywell, etc had been granted tax waiver on pioneer status between 2019 and last year for N16 trillion by the FIRS and the other Federal Government agencies.

According to Nami, “FIRS does not have the power or responsibility of facilitating or even implementing tax waivers to investors in Nigeria. There are relevant agencies of government that are charged with such responsibility.”

He, however, noted that the Service was not unmindful of the objectives of granting tax waivers to investors, which he said include “helping to grow local companies, stimulate economic growth, and earn investors’ confidence”.

Nami also stated that he was “confident that the companies which are enjoying tax breaks will soon exit and begin to pay taxes to the Federal Government as is cu being done by the companies that have equally enjoyed such tax breaks in the past and are now paying taxes in hundreds of billions of naira”.

Such companies, he said, “will continue to pay taxes to the government so long as they remain in business.”

The FIRS chief also clarified that “the companies enjoying the Pioneer Status will be exempted from paying only the Direct Taxes (eg CIT, EDT) from their profits but will continue to act as agents of collecting and remitting Indirect Taxes (eg VAT, WHT) during their operations”.

He emphasisied that he remained focused on achieving the mandate of the Service which is to assess, collect, and account for taxes due to the federation and the Federal Government.

This task, he noted, “is challenging, more so at this time of global economic disruption occasioned by the Russia-Ukraine war and the Pandemic”.

The FIRS boss hinted that “the Service is poised to perform better than its record for last year” having surpassed its target by collecting an unprecedented amount of N6.4 trillion in taxes.