FG considering VAT increase to boost non-oil revenue

• As govt agencies expose revenue growth strategies

The Federal Government on Wednesday gave in indication that Value Added Tax (VAT) may have to be increased this year in order to boost non-oil revenue to finance development projects.

The Minister of Finance, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, who spoke at the unveiling government’s Strategic Revenue Growth Initiatives in Abuja, said the initiative was “to harmonise efforts of all the revenue generating agencies towards boosting accruals into government’s coffers and to sustain revenue generation in all sectors and maintain fiscal buoyancy and resilience.”

According to her, “We are studying a possibility of a VAT increase but you also know that the increase of VAT requires an amendment of a law. It is most likely the VAT increase will be selective. It will be on special items so it won’t be across the board.

“There would be a VAT increase during the course of 2019, we will announce later the items and what the rate would be. We would have to take a request to the National Assembly for amendment before it takes effect.

“President Muhammadu Buhari has mandated the Federal Ministry of Finance to generate more revenues to finance national development and to proactively monitor collections by all Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs) involved in revenue generation.”

She further stressed that government “will also be looking at new revenue streams and enhanced enforcement with regard to revenue collection from our existing revenue streams. Through the initiative, we hope to achieve cohesion between revenue generating entities and equipping them with cutting-edge tools and expertise needed to support high performance.”

In his revenue-generating proposal, the Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Mr Babatunde Fowler, said the service plans to kick-start the drive to boost revenue by reviewing the current legal framework on tax.

Fowler said the FIRS will go ahead to collaborate with Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) “to get names of companies and individuals with funds in excess of N1 billion and make sure that appropriate tax is collected.”

The FIRS, he said would also ensure that it collects tax on properties owned by corporate entities in the country. This tax on property he said, is not property tax but tax on corporate gains.

He added that FIRS would also link up with the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) to get data on companies that import goods into the country, to ensure that they pay their fair share of tax.

In his presentation, the Comptroller-General, Nigeria Customs Service, Col. Hameed Ali (rtd) said the Service will focus on reducing smuggling, block mis-invoicing and illicit financial flow of goods as well as acquire non-intrusive scanners to be deployed to all ports.

He also disclosed that the NCS will introduce new excise duties, lamenting that “at the moment, the country only collects excise duty on alcohol and cigarettes. The Service would also like to look into including carbonated drinks since they also have health implications for consumers.”

Ali said “the country’s policy on exports to be reviewed, to allow the Service charge duties on goods being exported out of the country.”

The Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF), Mr Ahmed Idris said his office would like to introduce the use of Treasury Single Account (TSA) to all existing Nigerian embassies to enhance revenue.

As a way of blocking leakages, the AGF said his office would also link revenue generating agencies to the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS) to enable the Federal Government process financial transactions faster and also reduce opportunities for corruption and ensure the safety of public resources.

The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance, Mr Mohammed Dikwa said the Ministry plans to review the tax incentive policy of the country to ensure that the country was not losing interest unnecessarily as well as review the targets and remittances of all the revenue agencies under its supervision for effective monitoring.

Dikwa also spoke about the plan of the government to harmonise the Tax Identity Number (TIN) and the Bank Verification Number (BVN) into one database.