By Oscarline Onwuemenyi
ABUJA — The Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, has given all tax paying Nigerians till March 31, 2012 to file their personal income tax returns or face sanctions.
Chairman of the FIRS, Mrs. Ifueko Omoigui-Okauru, gave the deadline, yesterday, at the opening ceremony of the FIRS 2012 corporate retreat and enlarged management meeting in Abuja.
The FIRS boss stated that "the new Personal Income Tax Amendment Act makes it a requirement for every individual tax payer in every state including the FCT to file their self-assessment return."
She explained that for the Personal Income Tax Amendment Act, the jurisdiction changes from state to state because the FIRS does not collect personal income tax from all tax payers in the country. The FIRS, she said, only collects from jurisdictions as stipulated by the law in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Within all jurisdictions, however, the FIRS boss emphasised that tax payers "need to file tax returns by 31 March 2012 otherwise you leave yourself open to sanctions by the tax authority."
Filing the tax returns, she said, was an obligation that required individual tax payers "to go to the tax office where you reside to get the form, declare all your income and then pay within two months."
In her address, the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said the Federal Government was "closely watching and observing developments within the tax sector and will continue to provide executive support at the highest levels, as required."
To reciprocate this support from government, Okonjo-Iweala urged tax administrators to see their work as part of nation building, stressing that "it is not an exaggeration to say that a nation with an effective and efficient tax system will invariably have an economy, which is able to deliver on its developmental goals. The tax system can therefore be effectively utilised as a spring board for developing and stimulating development in all sectors of the economy."
Government she said will continue to urge FIRS to keep up and improve on its performance so it can surpass the expectations of government. She implored the nation's tax administrators to "utilize this forum to proffer suggestions, make recommendation and analyse strategies that will be helpful and useful towards achieving short, medium and long term goals."
The reform of the Nigerian tax system she explained is a key component of any economic development agenda of the government which is the main thrust of government's support for the reforms and modernization of the Nigerian tax system and in particular the Federal Inland Revenue Service.
The Minister noted, however, that reforms without careful planning, a well thought out strategy and regular evaluation is bound to fail. Government work today she added "has several dependencies and we must make it a duty to carry along all stakeholders so that working together we can achieve optimal results."
Vanguard Nigeria