Can Nigeria Prosecute Tax Offenders as VAIDS Window Closes?

Sat, Mar 31, 2018 | By publisher


Business, Featured

The Voluntary Assets and Income Declaration Scheme ends March 31. Can the federal government muster the courage to prosecute tax offenders starting from April 1?

By Anayo Ezugwu

FROM Sunday, April 1, the federal government will start prosecuting tax defaulters who failed to take advantage of amnesty window provided by the Voluntary Assets and Income Declaration Scheme, VAIDS. The government will achieve this through its proposed special tax courts to prosecute those who failed to regularise their tax status under VAIDS.

Realnews gathered that individual and corporate tax debtors have been approaching federal and state tax authorities to seek information on how to declare their previously unpaid taxes before the window shuts on March 31.

The rush, according to the VAIDS office in the federal ministry of finance, is on account of the fact that hidden assets and incomes have been discovered through the use of data obtained from a variety of sources, including government revenue-collecting agencies, bank verification numbers, BVN, payment platforms, land registries, Securities and Exchange Commission as well as the Corporate Affairs Commission.

The data showed that lifestyles of many do not match the taxes paid. Those in this category have had letters written to them nudging them to come forward and take advantage of the tax amnesty scheme, which gives them the opportunity to spread payment over a maximum three-year period, and have interests/penalties waived. Those who declare will equally escape prosecution, which the government has warned would follow at the closure of the window.

Kemi Adeosun, minister of finance, said the government was aware of the slow nature of the judicial system and would be setting up special courts to fast-track the adjudication of tax-related offences under the VAIDS initiative. She noted that all incomes, assets and other properties earned and acquired from 2010 to date would be covered under VAIDS.

The minister added that assets, properties and incomes acquired or earned during the period must be accounted for by individuals and companies under the scheme. She said that through the data mining programme being implemented under the ‘Project Lighthouse’ initiative, over 130,000 high profile individuals had been identified for scrutiny.

Adeosun explained that upon the expiry of the deadline, the federal government would go after the 130,000 high profile individuals. The minister stated that the government, through the use of information technology, had gathered adequate data that would be used to prosecute the offenders.

She lamented that the lifestyles of many of the high net-worth individuals did not support their tax status, adding that the government was fully committed to effectively implementing the tax amnesty programme.

On his part, Babatunde Fowler, executive chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, on Wednesday, March 7 said: “at  the federal level, people have declared and paid N20bn; and one thing I will let you know is that based on the experiences of other countries, usually people wait till the last minute.”

According to Fowler, the government had identified properties worth over N2 trillion in Abuja, whose owners were not paying taxes. He said if those who owned the properties fail to regularise their status, the properties would be sold by the government after obtaining court orders on them.

“We have identified properties worth N2tn that belong to corporate organisations that have never filed any tax and now we are in the process of getting a court order to start selling those properties if the owners do not come and pay the taxes. And this is a programme we are going to roll over across the whole country and we’ve concluded in Kaduna and in Lagos, and we are going to other states.”

The VAIDS offers a grace period of nine months from July 1, 2017 to March 31, 2018, for tax defaulters to voluntarily pay back to the government what they owe. In exchange for full and honest declaration, the government promises to waive penalties that should have been levied and the interest that should have been paid on overdue taxes. Also, those who declare their tax obligations honestly will not be subjected to any investigation or tax audit after the grace period.

– Mar. 31, 2018 @ 4:05 GMT |

Tags: