Customs Faults Finance Act As Senate Sets N3trn Target For Revenue Agencies

The Nigeria Customs Service has described the Finance Act 2021 as confusing, saying it is hindering its ability to collect levies and taxes.

This came as the President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, said Ministries, Departments, and Agencies of the Federal Government could generate and remit N3tn annually to the coffers if wasteful spending was stopped.

Lawan stated this while declaring open, an interactive session with revenue-generating MDAs in Abuja on Monday.

The session was themed, ‘The Need to Improve Internally Generated Revenue of the Federal Government of Nigeria and Revenue Projections of the Agencies as Contained in the Appropriation Act 2022.’

However, the Controller-General of the NCS, Col. Hameed Ali, faulted the Finance Act at the event.

According to him, Section 22 of the Finance Act 2021 seeks to amend Section 68 (1), (2), (3), (4) and (6) the Federal Inland Revenue Service Act by allowing the Act to take precedence over any other laws with regards to the administration of taxes, assessment, accounting, collection and enforcement of taxes and levies due to the government.

Ali said, “When the law was signed, it did not state clearly the extent and scope of the taxes and levies in question. We are aware that the taxes and levies under the responsibilities of the FIRS are income tax, personal income tax, capital gain tax, value-added tax and so on. However, the amendment is so wide and open that we in the Nigeria Customs Service took it that it had hindered our ability to collect levies and other collections.

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“Our understanding of the provisions is that if all other laws which mandated us to collect (revenue) are inconsistent with the new Act, then they are voided. This means that the law that mandates us to collect as revenue-generating agencies is voided completely. This means that we do not have the responsibility to collect levies. If we don’t have the responsibilities to collect, what are we going to discuss here?”

Lawan decried that the finance ministry was not present at that moment to speak on the issues raised by Ali.

He said, “The Senate Committee on Finance and the Ministry of Finance and other agencies would look at the Act; if it is established beyond reasonable doubt that we need to amend it, we will do so without delay. It will be the fastest amendment because we need you to collect more money for the Federal Government.”