FIRS Targets 17% Tax To GDP Ratio By 2023

The Federal Inland Revenue Service has said that it will raise Nigeria’s tax ratio to Gross Domestic Product ratio from the current six per cent to 17 per cent by 2023.

The FIRS Executive Chairman, Muhammad Nami, said this during a meeting with traders in Lagos.

A statement from the FIRS stated that the objective of the meeting was to sensitise Lagos traders, and market unions on the 2019 Finance Act.

Over 100 officials of traders’ associations and unions attended the meeting.

He listed the benefits of the new Finance Act to include reduction of the Company Income Tax from 30 per cent to 20 per cent.

Nami urged the entrepreneurs to register their businesses officially rather than operate informally in order to access the benefits from the Act.

He urged the traders to separate their personal finances from their business capital in order not to lose their working capital to state tax bodies.

The FIRS stated that doing so would help their businesses to grow as they pay less tax.

He urged the traders to endeavour to charge Value Added Tax on applicable goods and services, especially consumption, and remit it to the FIRS promptly.

Nami also disclosed that more FIRS tax offices would be opened in markets nationwide to bring the service nearer to traders and make tax compliance easier for them.

He said the FIRS under his watch would reposition its Corporate Social Responsibility activities to benefit the informal sector, including markets, in order to create a conducive business environment for them.