The Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, is proposing a total revenue collection of N5.9 trillion during the 2021 financial year.
Executive Chairman of the Service, Muhammad Nami, said this on Thursday when he appeared before the House of Representatives Committee on Finance.
Nami explained that this is against the budgeted figure of N5.076 trillion in 2020 representing a 16.22 per cent increase. He said out of the proposed N5.9trillion revenue, Non-Oil and Oil components are expected to contribute N4.26 trillion and N1.64 trillion respectively.
The FIRS boss, however, noted that the budget is predicated on the assumption that there will be a marginal reduction in the taxable income of taxpayers due to the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic, in the form of exemptions of some categories of persons from tax payment as enshrined in the 2019 and 2020 Finance Act.
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Nami disclosed that the service seeks to continuously improve on technology for automated tax collection through electronic filing, registration, and payment to further enhance the ease of doing business with the FIRS.
The House Committee Chairman on Finance, James Fake who expressed satisfaction with last year’s performance despite the negative effects of the Covid 19 pandemic, cautioned his colleagues against pushing for employment opportunities for their constituents, thereby increasing the service’s overhead costs.
Editor: Oloyede Oworu