Nigeria tackles offshore tax evasion, illicit financial flows with AEOI

Notwithstanding the challenges in tackling offshore tax evasion and illicit financial flows, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has said that Nigeria has taken necessary steps to overcome the hurdles through the implementation of the Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) Common Reporting Standard (CRS) procedures.

Deputy Director, FIRS, Kehinde Kajesomo, said this during a tax practice management workshop by the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN), where he spoke on ‘Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI): Stakeholders’ Perspectives on Developing Issues’.

He said the move was to assist countries raise the needed revenue and build a coordinated global system that provides no hiding place for tax evaders.
Highlighting some of the challenges arising from the implementation of AEOI, he said there are several RFIs yet to comply with CRS regulations.

He said there is no record of procedure applied to identify reportable accounts and match CRS data to domestic taxpayers’ information among others.

In addressing the challenges, Kajesomo called for enough sensitisation on the reporting of financial institutions. He called for periodic verification of reporting financial institutions’ CRS compliance and collaboration with relevant agencies.

Earlier, Chairman of the institute’s Taxation Standard and Practice Monitoring, Dr Ruth Arokoyo, said there are countries under the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) that have signed the agreements on AEOI, with Nigeria undertaking its first exchanges in 2020.

She said to be able to assess taxpayers adequately and curb tax evasion and avoidance, information is of utmost importance to the various tax jurisdictions, which led to the institute putting together the programme.