Additional 130, 000 Taxpayers Shortchanging FG

The Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, says the ministry has discovered a new set of 130,000 people who underpaid taxes over the years.

Adeosun made this disclosure on Tuesday morning, when she appeared on Am Express, a programme on Nigerian Television Authority (NTA).

The minister said the data was received from numerous sources ahead of the closure of the Voluntary Assets and Income Declaration Scheme (VAIDS), which ends on March 31.

According to Adeosun, common ways of violating tax laws are under-declaration or non-declaration of income, non-remittance of value-added tax to the federal government, charging of non-allowable personal expenses to company accounts, particularly with reference to overseas school fees and inconsistency between income declared for tax purposes and the value of assets owned.

“The data have been received from a number of sources including land registries of the governments of Lagos, Kaduna, Kano and Ogun states as well as the federal capital territory,” she said.

“In addition, Nigeria has been able to request data from a number of nations, including traditional tax havens. The data have been received from a number of foreign jurisdictions under the exchange of information protocols.

“Under the exchange of information protocols, this information relates to bank records and financial filings for tax purposes and is obtained from tax havens who are signatories to the information sharing agreements such as the British Virgin Islands and Mauritius.”
While reiterating that the VAIDS deadline will not be extended, the minister advised non-compliant taxpayers to seek professional advice and to also consult relevant literature.