The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has written to ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) of the government to refund over N1 trillion in taxes they have failed to remit.
A source at the FIRS told our correspondent that MDAs are expected to collect certain taxes on behalf of the FIRS.
“These include VAT (Value Added Tax) and Withholding Tax (WHT) that emanate from contracts awarded at the states and businesses they engage with and then act as collection agents of these taxes for the FIRS and afterward remit the same to the Service,” the source said.
Many MDAs, the source added, failed to remit these taxes which had accumulated to over N1 trillion over the years.
This fact was recently confirmed by Taiwo Oyedele, Fiscal Policy Partner and Africa Tax Leader at PwC, who asserted that MDAs had not been remitting withholding tax to the government.
Speaking at the Nairametrics Economic Outlook webinar, Oyedele said: “You will be surprised to know that the National Assembly, Presidency, and EFCC do not remit taxes, according to the audit report of the Auditor-General.”
Oyedele urged MDAs to remit taxes of staff and appealed to the Federal Government to “harmonize taxes by reducing the taxing agencies which should work in tandem with blocking leakages.”
