Tax preparation services

If ever he was in doubt, it should be clear to Tunde Fowler by now that extraordinary courage is needed to push through new ideas where vested interests are deeply entrenched. As the architect of the reforms that grew the IGR (internally generated revenue) of Lagos from an average of N600 million in 1999 to well over N25 billion by 2015, perhaps this tax guru did not have to worry much about political risks and distractions back in his last station. Working for an administration that was in the opposition then, the shield mustered by the government in Alausa was certainly broad enough to protect its key enablers against the snares of the enemy.      But the Federal Inland Revenue Service in Abuja is a bigger platform and so is the burden the occupant of the office has to bear. Attack is not only inevitable but often fierce also. Various schemes are floated to either slander or distract you. Especially when actions or steps undertaken by you knowingly or inadvertently hurt some folks. Well, it does not matter even if that helps public interest ultimately. Today, even the worst critics cannot but acknowledge that the innovative measures embarked upon by Fowler have helped to reposition the FIRS for better results. From the N3.3 trillion generated in 2016, the returns posted by FIRS in 2018 was a record N5.3 trillion, representing a growth of 53 percent within three years. As for 2017, the figure generated was N4 trillion. This is significant because it came at a time when the national economy was supposed to be contracting as a result of the recession that befell the country in 2014/2015, widely considered the worse the nation ever experienced in a generation following a steep crash in commodity prices in the global market. So, it would not be wrong to credit the FIRS as helping to generate revenue that enabled the country weather that recessionary storm without any oil windfall of any kind. As a matter of fact, oil price crashed to less than $30 at some point. But the FIRS’ revenue turnaround was not achieved without Fowler taking some hard decisions on assumption of office which understandably did not go down well with some folks. He did not have to reinvent the wheel though; just the application of commonsense.  Of course, the elementary lesson you learn in management class is to always seek to attack cost with a view to maximizing returns. Just one example of what Fowler did to cut down the cost of operations drastically. Before he took over, the practice was for a lump sum to be made available for the heads of several dozens of FIRS stations across the country. Of course, such system was susceptible to abuse. Instead, a more transparent inventory process was enshrined such that operatives are now required to sign off a voucher to have their operational vehicles fueled at designated gas stations across the country. Such approved filling stations will, in turn, file claims directly to the FIRS for payment monthly. With time, the heavy costs incurred in the past in the name of operations were drastically cut down, thus curtailing abuse. In fact, the costs fell by more than sixty percent! Smart dudes no longer received a lump sum of money monthly over which they had discretion to spend on petrol and diesel. Of course, the bulk of that actually ended up in private pockets. The massive automation of the FIRS processes has also ensured that sharp practices of the past were curtailed if not totally eliminated. Unlike the manual situation that was overly cumbersome, taxpayers can now discharge their civic responsibility seamlessly through e-Stamping, e-Registration, e-Filing, e-Payment, e-Receipt and e-TCC.   Source: The Sun

Telecom subscribers in the country are likely to pay an additional N261.18bn on voice calls, short message service and data in one year if the Senate passes the proposed Communications Service Bill into law. The bill, sponsored by Senator Ali Ndume from Borno South, aims to charge nine per cent on communication services and pay-per-view TV services. Ndume noted that the bill, which had passed the first reading at the upper chamber of the National Assembly, would impose levies on electronic communication services like voice calls, SMS, data usage – both from telecommunication services providers and Internet service providers and pay-per-view TV services.       Meanwhile, network operators under the aegis of the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria pointed out that the proposed nine per cent tax would make communication expensive and in turn make life difficult for the average Nigerians. The Chairman of ALTON, Gbenga Adebayo, said communication was presently one of the most affordable basic needs of Nigerians but cautioned that the proposed increase was offensive and would make it inaccessible to many. In fact, the bill specifically stipulated that the subscribers would be liable for the payment of the tax. Section 2 of the bill reads, “The tax shall be paid together with the Electronic Communication Service charge payable to the service provider by the consumer of the service. “The tax is due and payable on any supply of Electronic Communication Service within the time period specified under sub-clause (5) of whether or not the person making the supply is permitted or authorised to provide Electronic Communication Services.” The latest monthly subscribers’ data obtained from the Nigerian Communications Commission indicated that the number of active subscribers to mobile services in Nigeria through the four network operators stood at 176.62 million as of August 2019. MTN leads the industry with 65.71 million active subscribers, followed by Airtel with 47.92 million, Globacom has 47.27 million, 9mobile has 15.6 million and Visafone spectrum owned by MTN has 119,386 customers. According to the data obtained from the NCC, in the year ended December 2018, the total outgoing mobile-to-mobile minutes of calls from MTN, Globacom, Airtel, 9mobile, Smile and Ntel was 114.20 billion minutes., however, showed that at an average of N24 per minute, offered by the network operators, subscribers in the country spent N2.74tn on calls within one year. But, with an additional nine per cent tax on voice calls, if the bill is passed into law, subscribers may have to spend about N246.67bn more on voice calls only, because according to analysts, operators would eventually pass the increase to the final consumers. The analysis showed that MTN subscribers may have to pay N29.43 as against N27/min; 9mobile subscribers may have to pay N32.7/min as against N30/min; Airtel users may have to pay N32.7 as against N30/min, and Glo subscribers may have to pay N7.2/ min as against N6.6/min. The 2018 industry data from the NCC showed that the total volume of SMS sent in the year ended December 2018 was 9,565,167,407, which implied that subscribers paid N38.26bn for SMS in the 12 months, at N4 per SMS. With an additional nine per cent tax on SMS, subscribers will spend about N3.44bn more on messages as the unit cost of SMS could rise to N4.36 to enable network operators to remit the nine per cent tax to the government. Also, NCC statistics showed the total number of international SMS sent through the four mobile network operators, including Smile and Ntel, in the previous year was 51,534,609. At N15/international SMS, subscribers, therefore, spent N773.02m. Thus, if the nine per cent tax is imposed on international SMS, subscribers are likely to pay N69.57m more as the tariff could rise to N16.35 per international SMS. Industry data also indicated that 188,012,210 outgoing mobile roaming minutes were recorded in the previous year, at an average of N288 per minute, which was responsible for the N54.15bn subscribers spent on roaming the previous year. With a nine per cent tax, the international call tariff may rise to an average of N314 per minute to make allowance for the nine per cent tax the network operators would remit to the government. Thus, subscribers may likely spend about N4.87bn more on international calls.   Source: Punch

Chairman, Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Mr Babatunde Fowler, has described the Kwara Internal Revenue Service (KWIRS), as a model revenue agency in the North Central region. Fowler gave this pass mark, yesterday, in Ilorin at the flag-off of the National Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) and Consolidated National Taxpayers’ Database. He said the choice of Ilorin for the flag-off of the North Central Region was in recognition of the path-finding role the state had played in ensuring sustainable internally generated revenue profile for Kwara and the region.     “Over the years, KWIRS has designed and executed far reaching IGR reforms that have translated to a model revenue agency in the region,” said Fowler. “Following the Law granting it autonomy in June 2015, it has developed in leaps and bounds constantly seeking to achieve excellence in tax administration. It has achieved a 221 per cent increase in its collection from N7.1 billion in 2015 at the time of attaining its autonomous status to N23 billion in 2018, he said.   Source: The Sun

Federal Inland Revenue Service has said that about 45 million Nigerians will be captured as taxpayers before December 2019. Mr Babatunde Fowler, Chairman, Joint Tax Board said this on Thursday in Ilorin at the inauguration of the new Tax Identification Number registration system and consolidated National Taxpayers’ Database for North Central zone. “Over the last four years, the economic policies of the current administration have focused on establishing a stable foundation for socio-economic growth and development.     “With the astute leadership of Mr President, the milestones achieved bears ample testimony on the impact that has been made, not only in tax-revenue administration but in the environment of doing business in Nigeria,” he said. Fowler listed the accomplishments to include expansion of tax base from 10 million to 20 million taxpayers with the potential for an increase of up to 45 million before year end. Fowler, who is also FIRS Chairman, said Internally Generated Revenue collection at the sub-national level grew exponentially by 46.11 per cent from N800.02 billion in 2016 to N1.16 trillion in 2018. He also said FIRS tax collections grew by 53.9 per cent from N3.3 trillion in 2016 to N5.32 trillion being the highest collection ever in the history of FIRS. Fowler added that N2.85 trillion was collected as Non- Oil Revenue which accounted for 54 per cent of total revenue collection. The JTB chairman said the federal government paid a total of N135.8 billion as outstanding PAYE tax liabilities owed by Federal MDAs to states from 2002 to 2016 with a total of N31.08 billion paid to the states in the North Central. “We are confident that this gesture by the Federal Government will encourage State Governments to also reciprocate and promptly remit all Withholding Taxes and VAT due to the Federation Account. “A positive movement during the same period is Nigeria moving up 25 points in Tax Administration Section of World Bank ‘Ease of Doing Business’. “This positive progression is also reinforced by the recent listing of Nigeria as one of the ‘top 20 reformers in Doing Business for the year 2020 by the World Bank. “We expect that more positive country reports will be released by the time the full report by the World Bank is released on October 24, 2019,” Fowler said. He said the new TIN Registration System would improve on the efficiency and output of the entire tax administration process. “It is also meant to provide enhanced convenience to the taxpayers as well as the tax administrators while guaranteeing that each taxpayer’s details are readily available to them at their fingertips at all times and anywhere,” Fowler added.   Source: Punch

The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has said technology integration is aiding revenue collection across the country. Mr Babatunde Fowler, the Chairman, FIRS, disclosed this during the inaugural edition of the Nigeria e-Government Conference in Lagos. The chairman said technology adoption made payment process more convenient and improved communication between taxpayers and the service in key areas.      The chairman, who was represented by the Assistant Director, e-Services and PEBEC Coordinator, FIRS, Dr Zainab Gobir, said the service has automated all its processes. Fowler explained that e-registration, stamp duty payment and Value Added Tax had benefited from the automation during an upgrade done prior to 2016. “Now, with all these initiatives put in place, our revenue has gone up tremendously, comparing it from 2015 to now. So, this goes to tell you that the FIRS is all about innovation and we are all about continuously improving our technology to better serve the taxpaying public and to serve the nation as a whole,” he said. The chairman also said technology has helped the service improve its website to a point where Nigerians can easily operate and get an immediate response without visiting its physical office. He stated, “The FIRS website is very robust to the point that if you check your phone now and visit our website, it would tell you the closest (FIRS) office to where you are. “You can do your tax payment and enquiries on your phone in your house, in your offices, anywhere.”   Source: InvestorKing

Telecommunications operators have condemned the proposed nine per cent communications service tax the 9th National Assembly plans to re-introduce. The operators under the aegis of the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria said the 8th National Assembly which earlier considered introducing the tax in 2016 had shelved the idea after the intervention of the association.    Also, network operators belonging to the Association Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria said the proposed nine per cent tax would make life difficult for an average Nigerian as communication is presently the most affordable basic need of everyone. The President of ATCON, Olusola Teniola, noted in a statement on Thursday that ATCON executives met the former Senate President, Bukola Saraki, on November 8, 2016 where the senators acknowledged that the growth of ICT was critical to the creation of jobs and reduction in youth unemployment. The ATCON president noted that the association suggested that the tax base be widened to allow more businesses to pay taxes.   Source: Punch