No Nigerian Will Be Left Out As Federal Government Begins New Tax Drive

No Nigerian Will Be Left Out As Federal Government Begins New Tax Drive

The FG also disclosed that tax evaders will soon find staying in the country difficult.

Nigeria's minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun made this known in Lagos at a lecture at PWC's Business School, with the theme: 'Voluntary Assets and Income Declaration Scheme (VAIDS) Interactive Session for Executives and Business Owners.'

The government has also engaged the services of asset tracing-companies to investigate the tax payment status of 150 firms/individuals.

The minister also disclosed that tax defaulters
will be investigated.

"We are working alongside projects we have
locally, like the Bank Verification Number
(BVN), records of property ownership, records
of property allocation, records of company
ownership from the Corporate Affairs
Commission (CAC), among others. It is from
these projects that we look at how much tax
such companies or individuals should be paying".

"The investigators' findings will enable us
compare the income and how much tax the
company/person is really paying, and that
gives us lots of information. But we encourage people to come up and pay their taxes willingly."

"You can register a high-end car. It tells me
something about your income. So we look at
your tax returns. If you registered Mercedes
E-Class and you are paying N100,000 tax, then
something is wrong. Those are red flags. We
now have the capacity to assess people accurately."

Going further, she said no Nigerian would be
left out in the campaign to enlarge the tax
net, noting that some beggars were earning
millions.

She said the government will look at their
lifestyles and tax them, adding that "even
proceeds from begging are taxable. You are
supposed to pay taxes even if your means of
income is begging".

The government said it engaged the services
of Kroll, a United Kingdom-based forensic and
assets-tracing organisation, to carry out this
investigation.

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