30,000 Firms In Kaduna Fail To Pay Taxes

THE chairman, Kaduna State Internal Revenue Services, Zaid Abubakar, has said more than 30,000 companies in the state do not pay their taxes.

He said this on Tuesday in Kaduna when a civil society organisation, Tax Justice and Governance Platform, paid him a courtesy visit.

He noted that only a few paid their taxes, adding that many did not pay what they were due to pay.

Abubakar also said that the 23 local government areas of the state had yet to remit the arrears of their Pay-As-You-Earn between 2013 and 2014.

He added that plan had been concluded to audit the LGAs from 2015 to 2018 financial years.

The Chairman said, “People are not paying taxes. For example, if we put it in ratio 1-10, Kaduna is not even in 4th. We are going to do a lot of awareness and we may upgrade to enforcement which is captured in the tax laws.

“2013-2014 liability is still hanging on all the 23 LGs. All LGs have backlogs of remittances of PAYE and withholding taxes.”