The Federal Capital Territory Internal Revenue Service has said it had introduced Electronic Tax Clearance Certificate to enhance service delivery and check forgery of documents.
The acting Executive Chairman of the FCT-IRS, Haruna Abdullahi, noted that the E-TCC had fortified the tax collection process, thereby making it difficult for falsification of documents due to the introduction of QR Code.
He made this known while appearing before the House of Representatives’ Committee on Public Accounts at its investigative hearing in Abuja on Tuesday.
Abdullahi also noted that the effort would help the Service would boost revenue for the FCT. He explained that Tax Clearance Certificate was a document being issued by the tax authority to certify that an individual or a business is compliant with the appropriate requirements as stated by law within a stipulated period of time, usually for the three preceding years.
Abdullahi said this was in line with Section 85 of the Personal Income Tax Act 2011 as amended, which states, ‘Whenever the relevant tax authority is of opinion that tax assessed on the income of a person for the three years immediately preceding the current year of assessment has been fully paid or that no tax is due on income or that the person is not liable to tax for any of those three years, it shall issue a tax clearance certificate to the person within two weeks of demand for the certificate by that person or give reasons for the denial.’
According to FCT-IRT boss, while issuing a tax clearance certificate, due diligence must be carried out to ensure certain conditions were met by the taxpayers and satisfied by tax authority.
Abdullahi also stated that application for TCC must be made and duly endorsed by the taxpayer and annual income declaration Form A and three years income declaration form must also be duly completed and signed by the taxpayer.
The FCT-IRS boss also noted that personal emoluments, which comprise wages or salaries, including allowances, benefits in kind, gratuities, superannuation or pension schemes and any other income derived solely by reason of employment are declared.
Abdullahi added that income declared must be verified, satisfied and evidence of such income be cited while benefit in kind must also be verified based on section 4 of PITA 2011.
The chairman advised that taxpayers should always endeavour to declare their incomes accordingly with evidences that would be satisfactory to the managers of the tax authority while due diligence would be carried out appropriately within the stipulated time.
He said, “It is evident that the issuance of the TCC is at the discretion of the Service in its justification based on the items listed in section 31 of FCT-IRS Act, 2015 and PITA, 2011 (as amended) may issue or not issue a tax clearance certificate.”
Chairman of the committee, Oluwole Oke, said the 9th National Assembly would support the FCT- IRS and other revenue-generating agencies to enhance their operations
Oke urged the general public and taxpayers to report any violation of the law concerning issuance of TCC to the management of the FCT-IRS.
The chairman advised the FCT-IRS to consider the legislative arm of the government as a partner in ensuring smooth operation of the service.
He said, “We will support you in whatever way to generate more revenue in the FCT. Try to have record of all the people resident in Abuja. The data is important. Ask for bank statements to know the actual tax to collect. We will support FCT-IRS and help the Service to bring more people to the tax net.”
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