FIRS generates over N2.5trn revenue between January, June 2018

By Etuka Sunday, Abuja & Ngozi Onyeakusi, Lagos

The Federal Inland Revenue Service has announced that it realized a total of N2, 529,615,174,601.25 (Two trillion, five hundred and twenty-nine billion, six hundred and fifteen million, one hundred and seventy-four thousand, six hundred and one naira, twenty-five kobo) from various taxes from January to June 2018.
The amount shows that the Service had realized 75% of its total target for the year, which is an improvement over what was realized at the corresponding period in 2017.
A report on the revenue performance by the Agency, submitted to the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, confirmed that the N2,529,615,174,601.25 has an increase of N746,107,323,247.26, representing 42%, when compared to the N1,783,507,851,353.99 total tax revenue realized in the corresponding period in 2017.
An analysis of the total amount shows that N1,168,627,365,306.67 was collected as Petroleum Profit Tax (PPT) as against N636,170,585,753.57, resulting in a variance of N532,456,779,553.10.
The Director, Information, Ministry of Finance, Hassan Dodo in a statement said, from the Company Income Tax (CIT), the FIRS realized a total of N680,093,730,362.25, which was N128,151,996,465.68 more than the N551,941,733,896.57 in the previous year.
The Value Added Tax (VAT) yielded a total of N536,525,540,228.39 in the period under review, which was N68,841,756,240.06 more than the N467,683,783,988.33 realized in 2017.
The Education Tax brought in N77,191,051,329.11 compared to the N58,868,372,910.79 in 2017, showing an increase of N18,322,678,418.32
The revenue from Stamp Duties was N7,492,592,658.35, which was N2,346,472,953.70 higher than what was realized in 2017 from Stamp Duties which was a total of N5,146,119,704.65.
The FIRS said it realized N1,006,543,151.07 from capital Gains Tax , an analysis of which shows that the amount was N64,916,270.95 more than the N 941,626,880.12 in 2017.
From NITDEF, a total of N9,249,618,573.91 was realized, resulting in an increase of N736,357,883.29 when compared to the total of N8,513,260,690.62 in 2017.
The Consolidated Tax Revenue for January to June 2018 was 49,428,732,991.50; an amount that was higher than the N54,242,367,529.34 by a total of N4,813,634,537.84.
With continuous revenue generation strategies, the FIRS expressed optimism that its effort will have a significant outcome, particularly in increasing revenue for 2018.