FG targets more tax revenues from VAIDS in 2018

The Federal Government is expecting considerable tax revenues this year through the implementation of the Voluntary Assets and Income Declaration Scheme (VAIDS).

The scheme is an initiative of the Ministry of Finance that provides a time-limited window for taxpayers with undisclosed income and assets to regularise their tax status.

Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Tunde Fowler had earned the Federal Government N17 billion as at early December 2017, while it another N6 billion by the end of last year.

The scheme, which terminates on March 31, 2018, has been widely praised as the solution to the small Tax-to-Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ratio of the country, which currently stands at 6 per cent.

It is expected to yield more tax revenue for national development by arresting the near-total dependence on oil revenues, which have shrunk following the dip in international oil prices.

Minister for Finance, Kemi Adeosun, had said in December, that many individuals and corporate organisations with undeclared taxes have been approaching tax authorities and expressing interest in declaring and paying up their taxes.

Towards its implementation, the VAIDS office, beginning from October last year, has been harvesting financial data of tax payers through the cooperation of states, revenue-generating agencies.

The agencies include the FIRS, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) and the National Communications Commission (NCC), among others.

Data obtained from the agencies will be used to determine companies that have failed to remit taxes on earned income, those with undeclared assets and corporate organisations that have collected taxes on behalf of government but failed to remit them.

State governments and the Federal Capital Territory Authority (FCTA) have also shown support for the scheme by volunteering to provide transaction data necessary to identify defaulters.