FIRS, LIRS establish joint tax audit/investigation team

FIRS, LIRS establish joint tax audit/investigation team

The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and the Lagos Inland Revenue Service have agreed to establish a joint audit and investigation team aimed at encouraging exchange of information.

Already, they have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to this effect.

This is contained in a communique signed by Ayodele Subair, Executive Chairman, LIRS, and Muhammad Nami, Executive Chairman, FIRS on Wednesday.

The general public, taxpayers and tax practitioners are charged to provide full support and cooperation to both agencies for the overall benefit of all stakeholders.

According to the MoU, the overall objective of the joint tax audit would be to improve tax administration by reducing tax compliance cost, thereby enabling ease of doing business in the country.

Executive Chairman of LIRS, Subair said while the importance of the agreement was to foster greater collaboration between the two agencies, “there is no reason to debate the above as it has been established that tax compliance and good governance are expected to co-exist as the indivisible social contract that binds citizens and governments anywhere in the world.

“Therefore, citizens and governments are expected to fulfil their end of the bargain in achieving a balance.”

According to the FIRS Executive Chairman, Nami, ‘’the cooperation would enable the two authorities to work as a team in sharing relevant information that would assist both parties in their tax administration and enforcement.”

He added, “We will carry out a joint audit and investigation as a team; we will also conduct an automatic exchange of information for gathering data for the purpose of tax administration.”

The communique said while the notice was issued for the information and guidance of the general public, taxpayers and tax practitioners in line with the MoU.

The collaboration is expected to improve tax administration with a view to enhancing tax revenue generation, creation of a robust database and improve on the country’s tax-to-GDP ratio.

Members of the public are assured that employees of both parties will abide by the Code of Conduct and Ethical compliance to ensure that the implementation of the MOU does not impact negatively on the taxpayers.