COVID – 19: FIRS Provides Palliatives to Cushion Effects on Taxpayers

 

COVID – 19: FIRS Provides Palliatives to Cushion Effects on Taxpayers

Nigeria’s tax authority, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has listed measures it has adopted to help cushion the effect of Coronavirus on taxpayers in the country.

Parts of the measures include: suspension of field audit exercise till further notice and extension of tax payment deadlines.

In statement by the agency’s Chief Executive Officer, Muhammad Nami, he said the agency had to find ways to support the growth of businesses in the country during COVID-19 outbreak as well as contain the immense pressure of generating revenue for the government.

The statement reads: On 31 March 2020, the Management of FIRS held a virtual meeting, following the Federal Government’s lockdown of FCT, Lagos, and Ogun States on 29th March 2020 as one of the measures to contain the spread of Corona Virus, COVID – 19. At the meeting, we discussed the necessity of the FIRS to remain committed to supporting the Taxpayers to continue to thrive even as the Service faces the pressure of generating increased tax revenue for the Government.

Throughout the days and months ahead, we want to reassure you that supporting Nigeria’s diverse and dynamic businesses through this uncertain time is our topmost priority. The response to the current situation is evolving rapidly, with advice and guidance changing daily. In the meantime, FIRS has setup a number of measures to provide support to Taxpayers in managing their tax obligations as they are impacted by the coronavirus outbreak. These are: 

1. Taxpayers can now take advantage of our simple, user-friendly   and robust e-Filing process to  submit their documents online instead of visiting the tax offices.Our dedicated email addresses for each of the offices are available on our website: www.firs.gov.ng
2. Late Returns Penalty (LRP) has been waived for taxpayers who pay early and file later. Supporting documents can also be emailed to the dedicated email addresses or submitted later to the tax offices by those who are not able to use the email facility.
3. Remittance of VAT on or before 21st of every month has been extended to the last day of the month
4. Taxpayers facing challenges in sourcing for FOREX to offset their liabilities are hereby given the option of paying in Naira at the prevailing Investors & Exporters (I & E) FOREX window rate on the day of payment.
5. The period to file PIT returns for Foreign Affairs, Non Residents, Military and Police has been extended to the 30th June, 2020.
6. Field Audit, Investigations and Monitoring visits have been suspended till further notice.

I commend the businesses that have made commitments, some of which have been followed through with payments. I thank you for your demonstration of uncommon patriotism.

My team and I are committed to, as a priority, providing support to all Taxpayers as directed by President Muhammadu Buhari in his lockdown speech of Sunday 29th March 2020.

We will keep you updated with information specific to Taxpayers as it becomes expedient and on how the Service can continue to support you while we maintain essential services in these trying times.

For further advice please contact asheikh.maidugu@firs.gov.ng

Muhammad Nami, Executive Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS)