President Buhari orders agencies to work with new JTB, FIRS targets 45m Nigerians in tax net by September

President Muhammadu Buhari has directed all business data generating agencies in the country to furnish the Joint Tax Board (JTB) with all vital information necessary for its activities.

This is as the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) plans to get 45 million Nigerians into the tax net by September.

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, who dropped the order in Abuja, listed the agencies concerned as Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS), Nigeria Identity Management Commission (NIMC) and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).

He disclosed this after launching the JTB for Tax Identification Number (TIN) Registration System.

“All the agencies involved with the generation of business data have been directed by the president to immediately collaborate with the JTB with the provision of the necessary information to enable it to capture accurate tax database of Nigeria.

“This has become necessary because the new TIN registration system is in line with the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) of this administration.

“There is a tendency that foreign investors would not have implicit confidence in your own economy if the level of domestic investment is not encouraging. That is why the new TIN registration system has been introduced to help tax-payers and other stakeholders easily verify their TIN online. The service also enables tax-payers to print their TIN certificate or send it to their emails,” Prof. Osinbajo stated.

Earlier, the JTB chairman, who is also chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Babatunde Fowler, had declared that with the launch of the new TIN registration system, the service would, before the end of the third quarter, raise the tax base to 45 million.

“We believe that with the new TIN registration system, we will be reinforcing the laudable efforts of this administration towards building a robust tax revenue administration system, promoting a tax-friendly environment and ensuring a sustainable and inclusive economy for all Nigerians.

“During the first tenure of this government, we expanded the tax base from 10 million to 20 million with the potential for an increase to 45 million before the end of the third quarter of 2019,” Fowler said.

According to him, for the first time in history, the federal government paid all outstanding Pay As You Earn (PAYE) tax liabilities owed by federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) from 2002 to 2016, totalling N135.8 billion to the various state governments.

“We hope that this gesture will encourage state governments to also promptly remit all withholding taxes and Value Added Tax (VAT) due to the federation account.”