FIRS assures Nigerians on hitchfree Tax Clearance certificate in 2018

‎The Chairman of Federal Inland Revenue Service‎ (FIRS), Mr. Babatunde Fowler‎ has assured Nigerians especially civil servants that the e-platform introduced by the Service. would address the current hitches in issuance and obtaining Tax Clearance Certificates (TCC) in the country.

Fowler stated this on Tuesday, while presenting a paper at the “Monthly Lunch Time Reform Seminar” on: “Removing the Constraints to Obtaining Tax clearance Certificates by Public Servants, organised by‎ Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR) ‎in Abuja.

‎Fowler said that measures have been put in place by FIRS to ease difficulty in issuing and obtaining of TCC.

TCC is a statutory document issued by a relevant tax authority to a taxpayer to certify that he/she has paid the tax required.

The FIRS boss, who was represented by the Tax Controller for ‎Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), Mr. Robin Njoku said that as part of the measures, the electronic Tax Clearance Certificates (e-TCC) would be widely available in the year 2018.

‎Asides the e-services, Fowler listed establishments of Federal Engagement and Enlightenment Tax Team (FEETT) and production and dissemination of taxpayer information guides as some of the measures to ease difficulty in issuing and obtaining of TCC.

He pointed out that the difficulty could be as a result of knowledge gap in taxation, non-registration of Tax Identification Number (TIN), incomplete documentation, non-remittance of the tax deducted, application of wrong rates in tax computations, under remittance of tax deducted and failure to apply for TCC.

He said that application to wrong tax authority, general apathy in obtaining TCC and lack of understanding of administrative processes in the Tax offfices, also formed part of the challenges.

The FIRS boss explained that, personal income tax and issuance of TCC to individuals are guided by the personal income Tax Act (PITA) LFN, 2004 as amended.

As penalties, the Tax law provides that any person who commits any of the following offences shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding N200, 000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years or to both s‎uch fine and imprisonment, he stated.

Fowler outlined the offences to include: counterfeits, falsifies ‎any document, counterfeits any seal, signature, initial or other marks, urging concerned authorities to ensure that the taxes deducted are remitted to the relevant tax authority on or before 10th of every month.

According to him, number of MDAs in the data base from 2012 to 2017 is 334, adding that 11 MDAs filled annual returns in January 2017.

He said, 4140 certificates were issued in 2012, while 5802 were issued in 2017, noting that in the same period‎, 26 were unissued in 2012, while 32 were also unissued in 2017.

Earlier in his remarks, the Acting Director General, Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR), represented by the Head, Special Projects and Programmes, Mr Sylvester Ayam said that the event was to create awareness for the reforms initiated by the Head of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) on tax clearance certificates.

Ayam said that the topic of the paper presentation was wisely chosen as a result of wide complaints from civil servants of the difficulty faced while trying to obtain tax clearance certificates.

He expressed optimism that at the end of the programme, participants would have been well informed and educated on the issue.