The Federal Inland Revenue Service on Wednesday threatened to invoke relevant legislation against defaulting taxpayers.
The move is part of efforts to broaden the country’s tax base and boost revenue through voluntary tax compliance.
A statement from the FIRS quoted the Acting Executive Chairman, Alhaji Kabir Mashi, to have said this during an interactive session with tax professionals in Abuja.
He said the Service would no longer take it easy with taxpayers who refused to voluntarily fulfil their tax obligations.
Mashi, while speaking on the theme, ‘The rights, roles and obligations towards an improved tax compliance culture,’ noted that FIRS would partner professional bodies in order to fashion out voluntary tax compliance strategies to shore-up tax revenue collection.
Represented by his Special Adviser on Taxation, Mr. Mark Dike, the chairman urged professional bodies to cooperate with the FIRS in regulating their members’ personal and professional practices with respect to taxation.
He said, “Voluntary compliance is the dream of every tax authority. Unfortunately, it is nearly impossible to achieve. Our review of compliance models of major economies of the world reveal that majority of their taxpayers are willing and ready to comply, hence they adopt strategies that will make compliance very easy.
“However, we have a reversed triangle in terms of the compliance model as majority of our taxpaying public, be it individual or corporate, do not want to comply. We are, therefore, left with the option of using strict force of the law to ensure compliance.”
He added, “That is not to say that we are not going to make compliance easy or help willing taxpayers to comply; our major challenge is in the number of taxpayers who are not willing to comply.
“So, as part of our compliance strategy, we have decided to engage you the professionals in dialogue; let us make compliance easy for you and your clients.”
Mashi said there was the need for stakeholders to collectively reposition the nation’s tax system so as to make tax revenue the primary source of funding for development.
“For the group of taxpayers that have chosen to remain non-compliant, FIRS has decided to engage with your professional bodies, to find out ways of sanctioning taxpayers in such category.’’
He pointed out that the country should not continue to depend on revenue from crude oil.
“The fact is that all professionals and their associations have one role or another to play towards the improvement of the Nigerian tax system,” Mashi added.