IMF official commends FIRS reforms, pledges support on tax administration

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has commended the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) for what it described as “significant progress” in the agency’s core responsibilities.

Paulo Paz, senior economist at the IMF’s fiscal affairs department, gave the commendation on Wednesday at the opening of an IMF-supported headquarters mission in Abuja.

In a statement on Wednesday by Dare Adekanmbi, special adviser on media to Zacch Adedeji, FIRS chairman, Paz said the global lender recognises the “good work that FIRS has been providing to the citizens” under the leadership of Adedeji.

The economist added that the Bretton Woods institution would continue to support the FIRS in delivering an effective tax administration system that promotes economic development.

Paz said the IMF mission is in Nigeria to identify areas where the organisation could provide additional support, particularly in light of the recently enacted tax reform laws.

According to the IMF official, the new tax laws will bring new impact to Nigeria.

“And we want to know how we can best support you with this new challenge. Our take on the four tax laws is first a recognition of the very good work that FIRS has been providing to the citizens,” he said.

“You have at the same time the recognition and new responsibilities with these very powerful laws which will increase the relevance of the tax administration in Nigeria.

“I want to express our honour of being here and being a partner of FIRS. Thank you for your trust in our advice. We congratulate you for the good results so far. There is more to come, and we are here to help.”

‘WE’RE IN A GOOD PLACE TO CONTINUE THE JOURNEY TOGETHER’

In his remarks, Adedeji thanked the IMF for its continued partnership with the tax authority, noting that the collaboration would be sustained when the agency transitions to the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS) next year.

The chairman, represented by Tayo Koleosho, his chief of staff, specifically lauded IMF collaboration with FIRS in portfolio management and compliance programme.

“IMF has gone on this journey with us, and I think we are in a good place to continue the journey together. We are working together either in digital transformation, VAT automation, looking at even the compliance programme and ability to automate some of those things,” Adedeji said.

“I am interested in corporate plan and the nexus of data portfolio management so that we have our strategy being dissolved into those manageable tasks. It’s very important that those things are well.”

Also speaking, Bolaji Akintola, coordinating director, corporate services group at FIRS, said the IMF has been a critical partner in the agency’s tax system reform efforts aimed at enhancing domestic revenue mobilisation.

She said with IMF support, FIRS conducted two systemic evaluations using the tax administration diagnostic assessment tool (TADAT) between 2018 and 2023.

“Each of these exercises was followed by a post-TADAT mission where a reform roadmap was developed to address the systemic weaknesses that were uncovered by the assessment,” Akintola said.

“The fact that the results of the 2023 TADAT showed significant improvement on those of 2018 is indicative of the commitment of the Service towards institutional excellence.”

The director said a fresh TADAT assessment would yield better results than the 2023 exercise, as many of the previously identified weak indicators have been addressed.

Akintola added that some of the issues have also been codified in the four tax reform laws recently signed by President Bola Tinubu.