Loss of N17trn to tax waivers: Senate orders FIRS to apply the brakes forthwith

The Senate Committee on Finance has asked the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to discontinue tax waivers, which have resulted in a loss of approximately N17 trillion for the country over the past five years.

Sen. Sani Musa, Chairman of the Committee from APC Niger East, suggested on Monday, during the 2024 budget presentation of the FIRS to its committee on finance, a temporary suspension of waivers for a rebating system instead.

Responding to the concerns of the committee, the Chairman of FIRS, Mr. Zacch Adedeji, said high-powered consultations are ongoing to streamline the current 62 taxes down to just 8.

He also projected that the service is targeting N19 trillion in total tax collection in 2024.

Adedeji said: “President Bola Tinubu has seen the issue of multiple taxation as a pool of problems; that is why he set up the presidential committee on tax reforms and fiscal policy. As of today, in Nigeria, we have 62 types of taxes being collected.

“The sad news about that is that less than eight out of the entire 62 accounted for 97 percent of the collection.

“We are already consulting and engaging the state government on it.

“At the end of the day, we won’t have more than eight or nine taxes that the state and federal government would be collecting.”

Reacting to Adedeji’s projection of N19 trillion, Musa said: “The Senate believes that you can do more, even to the tune of N30 trillion, if required measures are put in place.

“Available records show that within the last five years, about N17 trillion has been lost by the country to tax waivers.

“It should be suspended and possibly substituted with a rebating system.”