The Rivers State Internal Revenue Service Board (RIRS), has hinted of plans to audit tax payment profile of companies operating in the state.
Chairman of the agency, Chief Adoage Norte gave the hint in a phone-in media chat organised by Silverbird Communications at the weekend in Port Harcourt.
He said since 2004, the board has not carried out any comprehensive audit of tax profile of companies as the government was losing so much revenue to tax evasion.
Norte while disclosing that there have been glaring improvements in the state’s monthly revenue from N6billion to N7billion on the average, observed that, “we have to clear the backlog of untreated files as far back as 2004.”
He, therefore, warned companies which have not remitted their taxes over the years to comply or face the full wrath of the law.
The RIRB chairman accused many companies of deducting their workers’ taxes without remitting same into the state government account, explaining that most times, this leads to compromise and evasion of tax payment.
Once the audit is carried out, he stated, each company will know how much they are to pay in accordance with the new tax policy of the Chief Nyesom Wike administration.
Norte while applauding the new tax harmonisation policy of the Wike administration, also warned companies not to pay any money to individuals or agents but rather make every payment straight into the government account to avoid theft and revenue loss.
“We have reasonably reduced touting, and so, every member of the public should resist the temptation to pay to any agent; and if you are harassed, please call the security agents,” he warned.
Consequently, he revealed that the board has introduced a “self service portal” on the web for easy transaction.
The ‘self service’, which is done online, Norte explained, helps individuals and companies to ascertain their tax status and profile without dealing directly with anybody.