FG to harmonise revenue collection, regulate cryptocurrency

The Federal Government said it is working on an executive bill that seeks to overhaul revenue administration in the country, harmonise collection and regulate the cryptocurrency industry.

Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Zacch Adedeji, disclosed this at the weekend during a stakeholders’ engagement in Lagos with the Joint Committee of the National Assembly on Finance. He said the bill is being put together for transmission to the National Assembly.

Adedeji said that the bill aims to, among others, simplify tax laws, harmonise the collection of revenue as well as seek the replacement of obsolete tax laws with new ones in line with the current economic realities.

“We will bring a bill for a law to overhaul the whole process of revenue administration in Nigeria. Part of what we intend to achieve with this is to harmonise revenue collection, making tax laws very simple to understand and to be in tune with our current realities.

“For example, the Stamp Duty Act was made in 1939 when there was no Internet connectivity or any of the features of modern society as we have it now. Even in 1939, states and local government councils had not been created,” he said.

Adedeji said the country needs to bring that law up to date, adding that it was one of the reasons President Bola Tinubu set up the Taiwo Oyedele-led Fiscal Policy and Tax Reform Committee to investigate all relevant laws and make recommendations.

“Today, we cannot run away from the cryptocurrency ecosystem because it is the in-thing. But as it stands in Nigeria today, no law regulates cryptocurrency operations. We need a law that regulates that area of our economy. This is why we are having this engagement with the legislators. We will regulate it in a way that is not injurious to the economic development of Nigeria,” he said.

On the revenue target of N19.4 trillion set for FIRS in 2024, Adedeji said the revenue-collection agency is on course to achieve the target

“We set a target of N19.4 trillion for ourselves. We are in the third quarter of the year and with the figures we are seeing so far, I can say we are on the path to achieving our target,” he said.

Commending FIRS for organising the stakeholders’ meeting, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, Sani Musa, said FIRS should be the regulating and collecting agency for all taxes of the federation, noting that the National Single Window programme will address the inefficiency in the process.

“By working together, we can ensure that FIRS is fully equipped to maximise not only the collection but also provide the needed resources for national development and public welfare,” Musa said.

His counterpart in the House of Representatives, James Faleke, who was represented by Kalejaiye Paul, commended Adedeji’s leadership at FIRS.