The acting Chairman, Federal Capital Territory Internal Revenue Service, Mr Haruna Abdullahi, has urged taxpayers to desist from engaging tax advisors to doctor tax records and conceal documents.
Abdullahi made the call when he appeared on the News Agency of Nigeria flagship programme in Abuja.
He warned that any taxpayer found to have connived with such tax advisors would bear the consequences.
According to him, any taxpayer that buys into misguided information on filing of tax returns will face the wrath of the law.
He, however, said that consultants and tax practitioners had been of tremendous help in providing guidance and advice on tax matters, but said that some were not living up to expectations.
“The service recognises that some of these things do happen because it is human nature.
“So, we are engaging professional bodies like the Chartered Institute of Taxation and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria relating to unethical practice.
“We engage them because consultants are mainly members of these associations.
“However, the issues of taxation is a personal responsibility of the individual.
“If you allow someone to misguide you as a taxpayer when you have avenues to educate yourself on what to do, it is you the tax man will come after,” he said.
Abdullahi said that the service had mechanisms in place to detect such unwholesome practices, adding that there was no hiding place for dubious individuals.
The FCT-IRS boss said that in most cases, the service was armed with additional information to show that a taxpayer was concealing some details.
While advising taxpayers to be properly guided in filing tax returns and engaging in other tax matters, Abdullahi warned that ignorance of the law was not an excuse.
NAN reports that the FCT-IRS was established by the FCT Internal Revenue Service Act of 2015.
It is empowered to collect taxes collectible by a state government in accordance with the Taxes and Levies (Approved List of Collection) Act of 1998 as Amended.
NAN
