Minister okays enforcement of revenue generating laws in Abuja

—MDAs, banks, others on alert

By Stanley Onyekwere

FCT Minister, Barr. Ezenwo Nyesom Wike, has approved strict implementation of the Personal Income Tax Act 2011 (as amended); and the FCT Internal Revenue Service (FCT-IRS) Act 2015, with a view to improving the revenue base of the territory.
Consequently, all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) Commercial banks; and FCT Secretariats, Departments and Agencies (SDAs) are enjoined to immediately ensure strict compliance with the laws particularly section 85 of the Personal Income Tax Act (PITA) and Section 31 of the FCT Internal Revenue Service Act 2015. And the transactions include Certificate of Occupancy, award of contracts, approval of building plans, application for FCTA loan for housing, business or any other purpose, registration of motor vehicles, among others.
Making this disclosure yesterday, at a press conference in Abuja, Secretary of the Economic Planning, Revenue Generation, and Public Private (EPRGPPP), Secretariat Chinedum Elechi, explained that both sections provide for demand and verification of Tax Clearance Certificate (TCC) by Federal Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs); Commercial banks; and FCT Secretariats, Departments and Agencies (SDAs).
Elechi reiterated that implementation of these laws is intended to ensure that all eligible taxpayers in the FCT comply with their tax obligations.
“On behalf of the FCT administration, we urge all individual(s), corporations, corporation-soles, trustees, or executors, having an income which is chargeable with tax under any law, to ensure that they pay their taxes, obtain their TCCs and present them whenever required.
“The primary mandate of government is to provide security and welfare of the people. This cannot be achieved if citizens do not pay their taxes as and when due.
“Taxes are essential to the foundation of any government, and it is important that everyone pays their fair share. Payment of tax is a civic duty and responsibility.
“We wish to state that the Personal Income TaxAct, the FCT – IRS Act and other relevant tax laws will be implemented from time to time, to ensure that the FCT Administration gets the required resources it needs to provide essential services to FCT residents”, he stressed.
Furthermore, he cautioned that per Section 85 of the PITA, anyone who provided false information or obtained Tax Clearance Certificates (TCC) through forgery or falsification, was liable to a fine of N50,000 (Fifty Thousand Naira) or a three year jail term or both upon conviction.
He added that a government entity or organization who failed to verify a TCC was liable to a fine of N5,000,000 or a three year, jail term or both, upon conviction.
Also, penalties ranging from N1000,000.00 fine to three years jail term as provided in the Acts await defaulters as the new revenue generation exercise takes off.
On his part, Chairman of FCT-IRS, Haruna Abdullahi, who revealed that the implementation process started two and half years ago, said it has trained its staff in terms of customers service on technical issues relating to how they relate to tax payers.
Abdullahi said: “Also, we have self service portal, so we don’t expect everyone to come into our offices to file taxes. But our offices are ready to handle the expected influx of people due to the announcement.
“We have been preparing for this day, and we have deliberately trained our employees in terms of customers service on technical issues relating to how they relate to tax payers.
“We don’t have any doubt in terms of our capacity. But we also want to get feedback from tax payers and residents on any form of challenges that might come up, and we will take it up immediately.”