Harboursandport.com: ABUJA - There was war of words yesterday between the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, the Chairman of Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Dr. Muhammad Nami, and the Chairman of Revenue Mobilization, Allocation, and Fiscal Commission ( RMAFC) Ellias Mbam over revenue monitoring.
The above government agencies were at the public hearing on the 2021
Finance Bill by Senator Olamilekan Adeola-led Committee on Finance. The
disagreement was over who has the constitutional mandates and legal backing of
monitoring revenue that accrue to the Federation Account and the Consolidated
Revenue Fund (CRF).
While the Chairman of RMAFC faulted section 68(2) of the proposed
bill seeking exclusive power of revenue collection, monitoring, and enforcement
to FIRS, the Minister of Finance, the Accountant - General of the Federation,
Ahmed Idris, and FIRS Chairman noted that RMAFC functions are not threatened by
the proposed legislation.
According to the Act, Section 68(2) states that FIRS is the primary
agency in charge of administration, assessment, collection, accounting, and
enforcement of taxes.
In faulting the provisions, the RMAFC chairman who noted that there
was no objection to FIRS being the primary agency responsible for assessment,
collection, and accounting but objects to the exclusive power of enforcement,
said, "This word (enforcement), is infringing on the monitoring mandate
of RMAFC in the area of enforcement and compliance
"RMAFC shall not wait for FIRS as a primary agency to carry out
enforcement of lost or unremitted government revenue before performing its
monitoring functions or seek approval of the Minister of Finance before
carrying out its constitutional mandate of enforcement. The exclusivity clause
of enforcement to FIRS should not be granted and as such, be expunged."
At this point, the FIRS boos who countered the submission of Ellias
Mbam explained that the mandate of RMAFC to monitor revenue is not
exclusive as other relevant agencies or bodies like the Budget Office,
Office of Accountant General of the Federation, Ministry of Finance,
Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC), etc, have concurrent mandate
to monitor revenue.
He said, "What is clear and exclusive is that FIRS possess the
mandate to access, collect and account for taxes accruing into the federation
account. Monitoring revenues is not the same as collecting and enforcing them
in form of taxes," he said.
The position of FIRS was supported by the Minister of Finance
and the Accountant General of the Federation.
In a presentation, the Minister who noted that RMAFC's fundamental
function is to monitor revenue accruing into the Federation Account and not
even the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF), said that the FIRS in the Proposed
bill, is empowered to sanction non - compliant banks that fail to deliver
quarterly returns, investigate tax evasions and other related crimes and
several others.
Earlier in his opening remarks, the Chairman of the Committee, Senator
Olamilekan Adeola said that the 2021 Finance has a total of 12 existing
Acts for amendments and they are ÷ Capital Gains Tax Act, Companies Income Tax
Act, Customs, Exercise Tariff, etc (Consolation) Act, Federal Revenue
Service Establishment Act, Personal Income Tax and Stamp Duties Act.
Others are Value Added Tax Act, Insurance Act, Nigerian Police
Trust Fund (Establishment) Act, National Agency for Science and
Engineering Infrastructure Act, Finance (Control and Management) Act, and Fiscal
Responsibility Act.
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