TheCable

Following an aggressive drive by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) in Lagos state, the nation’s tax drive has received a boost of more than N248 million.

According to NAN, FIRS carried out the tax drive in Baker Hughes, Line Trale, Tecon Oil and Heyden Petroleum, all operating in Lagos.

At Baker Hughes, the company’s secretary, Mr Gbenga Biobaku, made a commitment to pay N50 million.

Biobaku also promised to visit the FIRS office in Lagos to reconcile the outstanding debts.

Some senior members of the Line Trale Company also pledged to visit the FIRS office with their managing partners to clear their outstanding tax.

Also, some senior members of Tecon Oil, an industry services provider, after some arguments with FIRS officials, made a N50 million payment commitment.

Heyden Petroleum Company also made a payment commitment of N15 million to FIRS.

Mrs Olaitan Adediran, a director at Large Tax department of FIRS, said one of the companies listed in the tax drive had earlier paid N148 million.

“One of the companies went to make payment of N148 million when we called them to say we were coming for the purpose of enforcement and that we would seal their company premises,” she said.

“The director also confirmed that another company had promised to pay N70 million after the holiday.”

Adediran said the enforcement drive yielded some positive responses because some of the companies had cause to sign payment agreements with the organisation. But she said the enforcement exercise would have been unnecessary if the defaulting companies paid their taxes when due.

“If a company is filing its returns as and when due and paying its taxes on due dates, enforcement will not be necessary,” she said.

“Companies have obligations to file their returns on due dates six months after the year ends and they had prepared their accounts.”

FIRS revealed that defaulting companies were counselled on how to comply with tax regulations and they were  also told that as long as the tax liabilities remained unpaid, it would continue to attract penalties and interests.