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The Senate committee on public accounts has issued two queries to FIRS for failing to remit Withholding Tax and VAT.
The queries hint that the Federal Inland Revenue (FIRS) has failed to remit N700.2 million Withholding Tax (WHT) and N708.5 million of Value Added Tax (VAT) both amounting to N1.4 billion.
The FIRS deducted the said withholding tax from 33 government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) in 2015. The value-added tax (VAT) was from 31 government MDAs in the same year.
The senate cites that this is against the provision of Financial Regulation 234 (III):
“This negates the provision of Financial Regulation 234 (III), which stipulates that officers who fail to provide for remit VAT and WHT due on vatable supplies and services shall be sanctioned under the applicable VAT Act No. 102 of 1993 which may include fines and/or imprisonment,” it said.
It has also requested tax deducted at source (TDX) for the unremitted WHT from budgetary allocations of the affected MDAs.
The senate quoted section 24 of FIRS Act of 2007 saying that the Accountant-General of the Federation can make deductions for unremitted WHT on this record.
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FIRS yet to remit N1.4bn Withholding Tax and VAT – Senate
In response, Mr Mamman Nami, Executive Chairman FIRS, established that remittance is yet to occur on both deductions.
According to him, the FIRS and Debt Management Office (DMO) is making efforts on this.
It said, “the service and the Debt Management Office (DMO) are making efforts to advise the Accountant-General of the Federation to deduct at the source from budgetary allocations of the affected MDAs in line with the provisions of section 24 of FIRS Act of 2007”.
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