Senate approves N215.8bn budget for FIRS in 2022

The Senate on Wednesday approved the sum of N215,811,290,243 billion naira as budget for the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) for the 2022 fiscal year.

The approval followed the consideration of a report by the Committee on Finance during plenary.

Chairman of the Committee, Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola (Lagos West), in his presentation, said out of the amount approved, N119,684,218,735 was for Personnel Cost; N60,160,518,057 for Overhead Cost; and N35,966,553,451 for Capital Cost.

He stated that the 2022 projected Cost of Collection of N215.81 billion was slightly lower than the 2021 approved revenue which stood at N216.65bn.

He explained that the difference represents a Cost of Collection (CoC) decrease of N840 million on the overall projected non-oil revenue.

Adeola disclosed that personnel cost was based on staff strength on the payroll including social benefits such as NHIS, Pension contribution among others, and anticipated performance bonus for the year.

He attributed the increase in overhead projection to the need for more robust operational activities which has a direct relationship with overhead budget lines such as electricity tariff, generator fuel cost, legal services due to tax disputes, local travels and transport and critical ones that relate directly to tax collection and administration.

The lawmaker added that capital cost estimates reported include on-going and new projects which are to be executed during the 2022 financial year.

“These are a result of expected completion of projects, payment of retention on completed projects and some new projects for effective revenue drive”, he said.

Giving a review of the 2021 Budget Performance of the FIRS, Adeola said, “the Service collected N4.53 trillion as at 31st October, 2021 out of the total projected revenue target of N7.61 trillion which represents 60 percent achievement.

“The performance based on the target for the period of N6.34 trillion represents 71 percent achievement.

“The Non-Oil component of the tax collected stands at N3.5 trillion and represents 63% achievement of total non-oil revenue target of N5.6 trillion.”