The House of Representatives yesterday approved N168.809 billion budget for Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to cover the proposed personnel, overhead and capital expenditure cost of the Service during the fiscal year 2020.
The approval followed the adoption of a report presented by the House Committee on Finance at the plenary.
Presenting the report, the Chairman of the Committee, Hon. James Faleke, said the committee considered the 2020 budget of the FIRS and approved that a total expenditure of N168,809,476,220 to defray cost of the Service during the fiscal year 2020.
He recommended that the digitalisation of all processes in the administration of tax in FIRS should be undertaken so as to catch up with rapidly increasing economic activities most often carried out online without physical presence.
Faleke recommended that FIRS (Establishment) Act and other tax laws be amended to make it possible for FIRS to modernise its operations with relevant technology.
He accepted the need for the Service to have an intervention fund and recommended approval of the one-off Special Purpose Fund to the tune of N100 billion.
“This fund will expressly assist the FIRS to fund its immediate but pressing needs such as the completion of the FIRS head office building complex within 12 months, six training schools, 30 prototype tax operations offices, purpose-built facilities for efficient taxation of the upstream petroleum industry and ICT infrastructure to identify and track digital transactions,” the lawmaker added.
Credit: https://thenigerialawyer.com/
