That directive to FIRS

Last month, the House of Representatives Committee on Finance directed the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to recover over N5.37 billion owed the federal government by some of its agencies. This large sum of money was allegedly collected by government agencies and was supposed to have been remitted to the FIRS, as part Withholding Tax (WHT), Value Added Tax (VAT) and Pay As Your Earn (PAYE), which were deducted from staff salaries and other emoluments and meant to have been remitted to the agency.

The Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), a huge federal government agency was also asked to remit the total revenue arising from its crude oil sales to FIRS. Before now the NNPC deducts what it calls ‘subsidy’ at source and pays the remaining revenue into the government coffers.

This is a good thing the House of Representatives has done. We recognise that we are praising our legislators for reminding government agencies to do what they are paid to do. This is not praise for a job well done but just for asking them to do it at all! Let us just pause to consider that before we reflect on the fact that this state of affairs has been allowed to continue for this long.

In the first place, the FIRS is the only agency of government that is vested with this function, it is therefore surprising that other agencies collect taxes on behalf of FIRS and they in turn refuse to pay this into government coffers. It is this kind of slipshod management that creates the enabling environment for government funds to be diverted into individual pockets. This should not be allowed to continue, money collected on behalf of government should not spend more than 24 hours in the custody of any agency before being remitted.

The South African Revenue Service (SARS), which is entrusted with the same kind of duties that our own FIRS carries out, functions far more effectively and efficiently. There is a need for us to learn from this example and be able to fine tune our system. For instance, to get information about FIRS is an uphill task. Its website is non-functional and it is therefore tough to find out where and to whom taxes should be paid. This is not the same in South Africa where SARS is easy to access and its sites user friendly. In this Internet age it is sad that the FIRS does not even have at its fingertips how much tax the government is owed nor even how much it has collected on its behalf.

We suggest a rehaul of processes and procedures to create a more efficient Federal Inland Revenue Service. We do not need a new agency but a more workable one that is up and doing and alive to its responsibilities especially in these straightened times. FIRS should not require proxies to do its work. Why not open satellite offices at such areas and let the money be paid directly into FIRS accounts. Let us save the Federal government from this ridiculous situation of being owed tax by its own tax collecting agencies.