A Memorandum of Understanding has been signed by the Federal Inland Revenue Service and the Lagos Internal Revenue Service to create the Joint FIRS and LIRS Audit and Investigation Team, which will promote information sharing between the two organizations.
According to Vanguard, the general public, taxpayers, and tax professionals are enjoined in the communique signed by the Executive Chairman of LIRS, Ayodele Subair, and the Executive Chairman of FIRS, Muhammad Nami, yesterday to provide both agencies their full support and cooperation in carrying out their mandates for tax collection.
The MoU stated that the main goal of the Joint Tax Audit would be to enhance tax administration by lowering the cost of tax compliance, hence facilitating ease of doing business in the country.
Speaking about the MoU, Subair stated that while it was crucial for the two organizations to work more closely together, “it has been established that tax compliance and good governance are expected to coexist as the undivided social contract that binds citizens and governments all over the world.
In addition, Nami said in regard to the MoU, “The cooperation would enable the two authorities to work as a team in sharing pertinent information that would support both parties in their jobs as tax administrators and enforcers as well as facilitate capacity building between the two tax authorities.”
According to the communiqué, while the notice of this MoU was released for the general public’s, taxpayers, and tax professionals’ information and guidance in accordance with the MoU, the collaboration between the two Agencies in the area of information exchange will ensure efficiency, accurate assessments, and increased revenue for funding government expenditures.
The communique also states that FIRS and LIRS are utilizing their current unique tax administration competencies to work together on information sharing, harmonizing an integrated tax system, and joint tax audit or investigation exercises in order to fulfill their respective mandates and maximize tax revenue to the Federal Government and the Lagos State Government, respectively.
The partnership is anticipated to enhance tax administration in order to increase tax revenue production, create a strong database, and raise the tax-to-GDP ratio for the country.
