It said it would embark on a nationwide VAT compliance exercise, starting from Monday, October 23, 2023.
The Nigerian tax agency, Federal Inland Revenue Service has given a two-week ultimatum to all tax agents nationwide to remit Value Added Tax (VAT) and Withholding Tax (WHT) to the agency’s accounts.
It said it would embark on a nationwide VAT compliance exercise, starting from Monday, October 23, 2023.
This was announced in a public notice released on Tuesday across the agency’s social media platforms, revealing further that the agency will start a tax compliance monitoring exercise next Monday throughout the country.
According to the notice, the exercise, which is in compliance with the Federal Inland Revenue Service (Establishment) Act 2007, will involve the review of the VAT and WHT records of some selected taxpayers.
The statement reads: “Pursuant to Sections 2, 8, 26 and 29 of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (Establishment) Act 2007 (as amended), notice is hereby given to all taxable persons or tax agents including Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of governments at the Federal, State and Local levels that:
“The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) shall embark on a nationwide VAT and WHT Compliance monitoring exercise with effect from Monday, October 23, 2023.
“As a result, teams of officers from the Service shall visit selected taxpayers, taxable persons (including companies, NGOs or MDAs) to review their VAT and WHT records.
“The exercise shall cover 2019 to 2022 accounting years for taxable persons whose records have been audited by the Service up to 2018 accounting year. However, for taxpayers whose records have not been audited by the Service up to 2018, the exercise shall be extended to include the prior years that have not been tax audited.
“All taxable persons or tax agents who have made deductions of VAT or WHT on behalf of the Service are required to immediately remit all such deductions to the FIRS within two weeks of this publication.
“Taxable persons or tax agents who shall be visited for the VAT and WHT compliance monitoring exercise will be notified by the FIRS and the documents required for the exercise will be listed in the letter to selected entities.”