Controversial Tax reform bill has been clarified by the Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Tax and Fiscal Reform, Taiwo Oyedele, as having no provision for consultants to collect tax on behalf of the government.
Remember that the tax reform bill presented by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has received disapproval from Northern politicians, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and other stakeholders.
One of the areas of contention was the claim that the bill recommended consultants collect tax for the government in Section 69 of the bill.
Oyedele, in a statement, explained that critics misinterpreted the section.
“In continuation of our explainer series and clarifications of matters arising on the tax reform bills, this note presents the facts with respect to the claim that certain provisions of the tax bills seek to introduce tax collection by consultants or third parties.
“There is no provision in the tax bills seeking to introduce consultants for tax collection. In fact, section 19(3) of the Nigeria Revenue Service (Establishment) Bill specifically prohibits the engagement of consultants for the assessment or collection of taxes on behalf of the tax authority.
“The section empowers the Revenue Service to appoint and employ consultants, accountants, other professionals or agents where necessary for the performance of its duties provided that such consultants shall not carry out the duties of assessment or collection of tax, tax compliance or enforcement activities, or routine responsibilities of tax officials,” he said.
Oyedele explained that section 69 which states that a relevant tax authority may deploy any technology, including a third-party payment processing platform or computer application to collect or remit taxes was not a new addition.
“This is not a new introduction. The provision currently exists under section 25 of the FIRS Establishment Act 2007 as amended by the Finance Act of 2021.
“The tax bills only retain the provision to empower the tax authorities to seamlessly automate tax administration and link up with taxpayers for ease of tax compliance.
“The necessary applications and payment solutions may be developed by the relevant tax authority or procured from third parties.
“This is a common practice globally for tax administration, and in principle, it is not different from the way a public or private sector organization such as banks and online stores, use third party applications for payments,” he stated.
He emphasized that provisions have been made in the bill to ensure that the involvement of third parties by tax authorities did not compromise transparency.
“The First Schedule to the Nigeria Revenue Service (Establishment) Bill sets out a governance framework for the activities of the tax authority including measures to prevent conflict of interest.
“Also, section 26 requires the tax authority to submit a report of its activities periodically to the finance minister including audited accounts. In turn, the minister is required to present the report to the Federal Executive Council and the National Assembly,” Oyedele added.
