The number of taxpayers in
Nigeria has increased from 10 million in 2015 to 14 million in 2017, to 19
million in 2018 and about to hit 45 million in 2019.
According to the Joint Tax Board
(JTB) led by Tunde Fowler, chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS),
Nigerian taxpayer roll will soon hit 45 million.
The board says Fowler’s FIRS has
fostered an uncommon collaboration between the States Internal Revenue
Services, SIRSs and the FIRS resulting in several collaborative projects in the
last five years.
Oseni Elamah, executive Secretary
of JTB, said in Abuja on Monday, that the ongoing integration of databases will
fetch the nation a total of 45 million individual and corporate taxpayers.
Elamah said this on Monday when
he presented a report on the new Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN)
Registration System to Fowler, in Abuja.
Elamah also said that the JTB has
completed the building of a new TIN Registration System which is an integration
of TIN numbers of various organisations in Nigeria, adding that the growth of
the taxpayers’ database is a major flank of the goals of the JTB in
collaboration with the apex tax authority, the FIRS.
“When the integration of the new
TIN Registration System is launched, it will afford prospective taxpayers the
opportunity to register for tax from the comfort of their homes and print their
registration certificate” Fowler said.
Fowler expressed happiness over
the completion of the new TIN Registration System and said that the system
would encourage transparency, efficiency, and convenience in tax administration
in Nigeria.
“I congratulate the JTB for
finalising the new TIN Registration System in record time. We now have a
consolidated database for all taxpayers in Nigeria.
“If you (a taxpayer) go to any
other country or visit another state in Nigeria and they want to check your tax
status, what this means is that they can check your tax status by a touch of a
button. We want to assure all taxpayers that we are ready to serve them more
with technology, convenience and accountability,” Fowler added.
BENEFITS OF THE NEW TIN
REGISTRATION SYSTEM
Speaking on the benefits if the
system, Elamah said: “State Revenue Authorities are expected to enjoy immense
benefits from the new TIN System”.
“Among these are: Taxpayer Information
Accessibility and Accuracy: the registration and recording of taxpayer
information is one of the fundamental functions of tax administration and to a
great extent, this will drive how other core administrative functions operate,”
Elamah added.
“The timely and accurate
collection and recording of basic identifying information of the taxpayer will
permit the tax administrator to understand its taxpayer base, staff itself
accordingly and to effectively plan other core administration functions. The existence
of an accurate taxpayer database will inevitably lead to effective compliance
programmes observation.
“The redesigned, development and
deployment of a TIN system leverages on existing taxpayer data available from
databases of multiple organisations like CAC (Corporate Affairs Commission,
banks through BVN (Banks Verification Number), Identity Card Management
Commission and other.
“It is a web-based solution with
centralised management of all the various functions of the TIN registration
system offering and accessible to authorised users of the system for reviews
and approvals of registration requests, TIN certificate issuance and
integration with relevant stakeholders.
“It makes possible integration
and exchange of data with sister state Boards of Internal Revenue, FIRS and
other third party organisations through web services”.
TAXPAYERS: FROM 10M TO 45M?
According to JTB, there were
10,006,304 people registered for personal income tax purposes in all the states
of the federation including the FCT as of 2015/6.
Out of this, about 4.6 million or
46 percent were registered with the Lagos State Internal Revenue Service
(LIRS).
Updated data, quoted by Vice
President Yemi Osinbajo shows that only 14 million economically-active
Nigerians paid taxes in 2017 — a number which increased to 19 million as at May
2018.
Going by the latest disclosure
from JTB, it is suggested that Nigeria’s taxpayers base will have increased by
over 25 million in the when Nigeria eventually hits 45 million.
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