July 17, 2019

The new national Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) registration system and consolidated tax database will ensure value addition to tax revenue administration and facilitate the ease of doing business, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has said. The system, which consolidates individual and corporate taxpayers’ records, provides a unique identity to the taxpayer as the foundation of the country’s automated tax administration system. The Chairman of FIRS, Tunde Fowler, said the system is a web-based solution offering access to authorised users to initiate TIN request from the comfort of their homes/offices real-time online, verify tax status and print TIN certificates. Mr Fowler said the system assures timely and accurate collection and recording of basic identification data. It also permits the tax administrator to understand its taxpayer base for effective revenue projections and planning, he added. He was speaking at the official launch of the new system by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Monday in Abuja. The FIRS Chairman, who is also the Chairman of the Joint Tax Board, said with tax administration in the 21st century evolving into a systematic and deliberate process based on availability of accurate and reliable data, the new system will ensure the identification of individuals and businesses. He said available tax records through the system would not only be credible and reliable, “they would be readily accessible under a secure environment, online and real time”. “For the revenue potentials of the country to be maximally harnessed, it is essential that credible and reliable data is available for use,” he said. Ease of doing business. Such records, he said, are essential to facilitate the ease of doing business and to help Nigeria achieve its economic objectives in line with the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP). RIPAN Campaign AD. Other benefits of the new system, Mr Fowler said, include boosting efficiency and ensuring coordinated and systematic approach towards managing revenue generation and tax information sharing between tax authorities in and outside the country. He said the consolidated database limits the incidences of double taxation. It also serves as a prerequisite for the sale and purchase of immovable property, registration of vehicles, applications for plots of land, import and export licence, registration as a contractor, and entry visas. Mr Fowler said the system has potentials to help the FIRS increase its tax base from the current 20 million taxpayers to about 45 million before the end of the third quarter of 2019. Leverage, synergy. The Executive Secretary, JTB, Oseni Elamah, said the new system leverages on existing data from relevant identity management agencies to reduce the burden of multiple registration of taxpayers, ensure seamless integration and exchange of information among the various tax authorities. Mr Elamah said the new system will ensure the process of domestic tax-revenue administration meets up with the developing trends in information and communication technology.   Source: Premium Time

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 yesterday 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 Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC). He disclosed this after launching the JTB for Tax Identification Number (TIN) Registration System. “All the agencies involved with generation of business data have been directed by the president to immediately collaborate with the JTB with the provision of necessary information to enable it 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.”   Source: Guardian