The Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Babatunde Fowler, has stated that over 27.5million small scale business owners are not in the tax net of the revenue-generation agency, thereby evading tax.

He made this disclosure in Abeokuta at the opening of a three-day 135th meeting of the Joint Tax Board, comprising chairmen of Boards of Internal Revenue Service from the 36 states of the federation with a theme: ‘Presumptive tax regime for informal sector: A leeway to grow IGR.’

Fowler said from the figure made available by the players in the sector, they have 37.5 million members, and only 10million out of this number are currently on the FIRS tax net.

He further explained that in the last six month, close to 700,000 corporate accounts had been brought into the tax net by the FIRS and the state boards of Internal Revenue ,adding that the target of the agency was to bring additional 10million into the tax net from the informal sector by December.

“We have the individual in the informal sector and we also have corporate account. Now, I’ll give you a little idea of the position within the informal sector.

“Those in the small? Scale business areas claim they have over 37.5 million members. What we have on our database nationwide, as individuals, is only 10 million.

“That shows you there are about 27.5 million individuals who are not paying taxes. But we also have small enterprises, small businesses that are not paying taxes.

“But among ourselves as members of Joint Tax Board, all the states’ chairmen have agreed to add a minimum of 10 million individuals before December 31st.”

Earlier, Ogun state governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, canvassed a review of the sharing formula of revenues accruing to the federation account through non-oil taxes including Value Added Tax (VAT).

He said, “The non-oil revenue sharing formula currently in use is obsolete. As at the time it was done 20 years ago, Ogun State, for instance was way back because of the number of industries we had then. Today, Ogun State is the industrial capital of Nigeria. The sharing formula should reflect this new reality. This is derivation in another form.

“It is a good thing that for the first time in the life of this administration, non-oil receipt accounted for over 70 percent of the fund shared at the last FAAC. It is a commendable and a welcome development because it signifies a major shift in focus from oil to non-oil revenue.

“But in the same token, I think it is very expedient to ask that we cast a second look at the formula we use in sharing the proceeds from these non-oil revenue.

“If we make a lot of money from industries, we should also remember that these companies reside in a state and they put enormous pressure on the environment and the roads in those states. Those various state governments carry the can and pick the bill for cleaning the environment. It is therefore only good for the management of RMFAC to give back more resources to those states hosting these companies.” (independentnig.com)

•Photo shows Fowler.

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