The Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, Muhammad Nami, has called on professional bodies to lead conversations on matters of tax policy and tax laws in the country.
Nami made the call in Abuja at a meeting with Council members of the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria, CITN, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, ICAN, and the Association of National Accountants of Nigeria, ANAN.
A statement by the Special Assistant to the Executive Chairman, FIRS on Media and Communication, Johannes Wojuola, said the meeting was to discuss the implementation of a memorandum of understanding, MoU, on standardisation of tax practice in Nigeria.
The statement quoted the FIRS boss as calling for value-based leadership approach from the councils while urging them to work hand-in-hand with FIRS to deepen its institutional framework through qualitative reporting and effective representation of their clients.
“Our professional bodies need to speak on matters of tax policies and tax laws especially on proposals to annual Finance Bills.
“We also urge you to help the Service to deepen institutional framework through quality reporting and effective representation of clients by our professional colleagues.
“We need to stem the tides in improving financial reporting to reduce the spate of ‘copy and paste’ financial reporting system as we experience today,” he said.
Speaking further, the FIRS Executive Chairman, who is also a Fellow of two of the three professional bodies explained that on the part of the FIRS, the tax authority had adopted renewed strategies to tackle financial reporting concerns.
Nami noted that the FIRS had created new departments such as the Intelligence, Strategic Data Mining and Analysis Department, the Special Crimes Department, the Tax Incentives Management Department and the Emerging and Special Taxes Department, which he stated are at the forefront of unravelling financial reporting issues through data mining.
He also disclosed that FIRS alongside State Inland Revenue Services are collaborating with the National Identity Management Commission, NIMC, to build a databank to improve tax investigation.
The FIRS boss also highlighted other strategies to include the accreditation of tax consultants and auditors in the FIRS, the review of data from Automatic Exchange of Information as well as increased enforcement actions.
Also speaking, Presidents of the three bodies, Prof Benjamin Osisioma of ANAN, Mr. Tijjani Musa Isa of ICAN and Mr. Adesina Adedayo of the CITN, commended the FIRS Executive Chairman for showing leadership in pushing for and enabling a resolution of the squabbles between the three bodies.
While thanking Nami for his leadership, the Osisioma noted that failure to cooperate amongst the three bodies would lead to chaos in tax practice regulation in the country.
“If we fail to cooperate and collaborate, we would destroy what we are trying to build,” he said.