The Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS Zacch Adedeji, has revealed plans to introduce a law that would overhaul the process of revenue administration in Nigeria next month.
He also decried the lack of regulations in Nigeria that govern the country’s digital industry, particularly with regard to cryptocurrency.
Speaking on the topic of “Repositioning The FIRS To Achieve Its Mandate,” Adedeji addressed the 2024 stakeholders’ engagement with the Senate and House Committees on Finance, which was arranged by the FIRS’s Intergovernmental Relations Department.
He clarified that the government intends to regulate cryptocurrency in a way that will not affect the nation’s economic growth. He also mentioned revenue harmonisation, recording, and simplification of the previous tax code.
He claimed that President Bola Tinubu established the tax and fiscal reform committee in order to amend and review the Stamp Duty Act of 1939, which was still in use in Nigeria when there was no internet access.
Adedeji said: “We are on the path of making sure the target of N19.4 trillion target we were given is achieved. We commend the recent windfall levy passed to increase FIRS’ ability to meet target and get more revenue and redistribute the wealth.
“By September, we are bringing the law that would overhaul all the process of revenue administration in Nigeria, harmonising the revenue, recording and simplifying the tax law that we have. For instance, the Stamp Duty Act of 1939, when there was no internet or connection, is what is still in use.
“Today we cannot run away from crypto currency but as we stand currently, there is no law anywhere in Nigeria that regulates crypto currency and it is the new thing that is happening and we cannot run away from it.
“The law we are using today is 1939 law. As at that time, there was no state or local government. That is the reason the President set up the tax and fiscal reform committee to check and change all these law.’’
Speaking as well, Senator Mohammed Musa, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, stated that the legislators and the FIRS were working together to draft legislation that would provide Nigeria with the best possible revenue stream to address all of the challenges the nation faces, including those related to the development of its human capital and infrastructure.
In his remark, the Chairman, House Committee on Finance, James Faleke, said everybody wanted improvement and development in the nation but noted that nobody wants to contribute to that purse.
“We are much more interested in sharing, nobody wants to contribute, forgetting that the developed world we always make reference to are developed, based on the resources that every citizen put into the box,” Faleke said.
