BREAKING NEWS, Business
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AS part of efforts to enhance the ease of doing business in Lagos State, the Lagos State Internal Revenue Service, LIRS, has announced various initiatives aimed at achieving efficient tax administration in the State. Olufolarin Ogunsanwo, executive chairman of the LIRS, made this known on Tuesday, March 8 at a press conference held at Lagos Press centre, Alausa, Ikeja in the company of Oluyinnka Ogundimu, chairman, House Committee Chairman on Finance, Lagos State House of Assembly, and some state commissioners. They are Mustapha Akinkunmi, Steve Ayonrinde, and Adeniji Kazeem, commissioners for Finance; Information and Strategy, and attorney general of the state.
According to Ogunsanwo, the agency has consistently been at the vanguard of reform activities aimed at easing the process of doing business in Lagos State in particular and by extension Nigeria, thereby championing several initiatives aimed at supporting Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, in achieving his electoral promises to Lagosians.
Among the initiatives is the introduction of a new two-page tax form to replace the old six-page form which is to be used for both direct and self assessments. He stated that the revised form and its guide notes would be translated to Pidgin English and Yoruba for ease of completion and wider reach”
In the same vein, the chairman noted that physical filing of annual returns was already being complemented with e-submission (on-line submission of Annual Returns) to ease compliance by Tax Payers.
Another initiative by the LIRS according to the chairman, is the introduction of customer-care desk in all the 38 tax stations to deal promptly with all issues that may be brought up by tax-payers saying the initiative would be complemented with the launch of the LIRS Hotline that would provide 24/7 customer-call service in English, Yoruba and Pidgin English.
Ogunsanwo emphasised that payment for tax should be made convenient and because of this the agency would be leveraging on technology to offer multi-modal payment portals including but not limited to PoS, mPay, online, etc without sacrificing the traditional/extant payment portal at the bank thereby taking payment portals to the tax payers for their convenience.
Furthermore, Ogunsanwo pointed out that the agency has concluded all arrangements to ensure that maximum response time of 72 hours to all electronic tax clearance certificate (e-TCC) requisitions is met and failure should be reported to any of customer care-desks.
Meanwhile, the chairman disclosed that the current cumbersome requirements for replacement of lost e-TCC such as Police Report, Sworn Affidavit etc would be done away with and be replaced with presentation of the LASRRA card while the replacement fee would also be reduced from N2,500= to N1,000= only.
Specifically the chairman stated that the agency had started the process of overhauling of the informal sector operations with a view to easing voluntary compliance by tax payers in the huge sector that have been categorised into three which include the Market Men/Women and Artisans, Micro, Small & Medium Scale Enterprises (including professionals) and Household Domestic Staff, HDS.
In view of the declining revenue from the centre as a result of fall in the price of crude oil, Ogunsanwo revealed that LIRS is poised to focusing on other revenue sources such as Consumption Tax from Hotel Occupancy, Withholding Tax on Contracts, Rent, Royalties and other areas to shore up the Revenue in the State.
Speaking at the event, Kazeem said the administration of Governor Ambode had put in place necessary measures to end the era of tax evasion and indeed avoidance in the state, adding that tax avoiders and evaders would be aggressively pursued in line with the provisions of the law.
The commissioner, who disclosed that the Ministry of Justice had established a Rapid Tax Prosecution Unit to aid the LIRS in its drive to collect taxes, added that the unit would work closely with the Revenue Courts, which the Chief Judge of Lagos State recently agreed to set up.
The Commissioner for Finance, Mr. Mustapha Akinkunmi said in the light of the reduction of federal transfers to States including Lagos, the State government was looking inwards to secure sustainable ways of increasing its revenue profile and plugging leakages in the system.
Other critical stakeholders in attendance at the well attended press conference were President, Chartered institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN), Mrs Olateju Somorin,Vice president, Lagos State Chambers of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Mrs. Agnes Shobajo, representatives of Association of professional Bodies of Nigeria (APBN), Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Market Men and Women Associations of Nigeria, Nigeria Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (NASME) among others.
— Mar 9, 2016 @ 15:00 GMT
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