The Lagos State Government has sued 686 companies for evading tax to the tune of N11.1 billion.
The
cases were filed at the High Court of Lagos in a bid to retrieve the
money, says Chairman, Lagos Internal Revenue Service, Tunde Fowler, at a
ministerial news conference on Wednesday in Ikeja, Lagos, southwest
Nigeria.
He said out of the 686 people taken to court
in 2014 for tax evasion, the court granted government order to collect
taxes from 376 companies, amounting to N8.1 billion, but that only N771
million was recovered.
“We filed 686 cases at the State High Courts at the beginning of the year with a total liability of about N11.6 billion. Out of theses,
we received destraining orders on 376 cases. This amounts to a
liability of about N8.1 billion. Of this, they have paid N771 million.
“When
a tax payer disagrees with the tax he is expected to pay and both the
tax officials and the payer couldn’t reach a compromise, both parties go
to court. And the court will grant us some order of destrain; to close
that organization.
“After that destrain, and they make a
payment, we will give room for the tax payer to bring additional
evidence on why he cannot pay such fee. And that was why we always have
difference in the amount that we took to court and the amount that was
paid,” he explained.
On consumption tax, Fowler said in
terms of compliance level, government had over 2,600 outfits that were
paying this tax, adding that “we have their cooperation while the case
was still in court.”
Tunde Fowler
In the Internally Generated Revenue, IGR, he disclosed that the government currently collects N23 billion on monthly basis.
“The
high months of collection are usually in April, May and June. These are
the months when companies declare dividends and staff go on leave and
they get their leave allowance.
“In terms of our actual
collection, we didn’t increase in IGR. In 2013, we had approximately
N236 billion while in 2014 it was N276 billion. So we went from an
average of N20 billion in 2013 to an average of N23 billion. That was
one of the things that has kept the state working. The informal sector
is yet to pay taxes despite the fact that some of these people get paid
for their services. They are about three million people in the state.
The objective of taxation is to distribute wealth,” he said.
Also
speaking, Special Adviser to the Governor of the State on Taxation and
Revenue, Bola Shodipo announced a 50 per cent increase in taxpayer
population between 2011 and this year.
He said as a
result of increased public confidence in the government of Mr. Babatunde
Fashola, the taxpayer population increased from 2.7 million in 2011 to
4.5 million this year.
Shodipo, who put the population
of voluntary taxpayers at 3.8 million in 2014, said aside from the
traditional due recognition to the most tax compliant individuals and
organisations, there was also a correspondent increase in the number of
Electronic Tax Clearance Certificates issued during the year under
review.
The Special Adviser said an additional 19,640
properties were enumerated during the year under review bringing the
total number of properties enumerated by his office for Land Use Charge
(LUC) to 663,913, adding that out of 5,893 complaints arising from the
issue, 5,223 were resolved while the remaining were still pending at
various stages of settlement.
Announcing an improvement
in the delivery of bills by his office with the introduction of the
e-billing system, Shodipo appealed to members of the public to embrace
the system to enable them benefit from the improved service delivery
which, according to him, informed its introduction.
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