…negotiates with Saudi Arabia, Germany, India, Japan, Russia, Hong Kong, others
The Federal Inland Revenue Service is currently negotiating the Avoidance of Double Taxation Agreement with 12 countries across the world.
The Agreement is to facilitate international trade and investments between Nigeria and the affected countries.
This was disclosed in a FIRS document titled, “Muhammad Nami-led Management on the Cusp of History at FIRS,” obtained by First News.
The 12 countries, according to the document, include Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia, Cyprus, Iran, Germany, Switzerland, India, Botswana, Japan, Greece, New Jersey and Russia.
FIRS had in 2020 concluded negotiations on the Agreement with Turkey.
It stated that the FIRS under its Executive Chairman, Mr Muhammad Nami, would however conclude negotiations on the Agreement with the above-mentioned countries as soon as the few outstanding issues had been resolved.
The document also disclosed that during the 2020 fiscal year, FIRS under Nami, continued the implementation of various administrative measures to enhance revenue collection to achieve its target.
“The Annual Corporate Plan Retreat was reintroduced and it held between 7th and 8th February, 2020 with the theme “Repositioning FIRS for Efficient Service Delivery.” The 2020 Corporate Plan was approved by the Executive Chairman, FIRS and exposed to the staff at the headquarters,” it stated.
The FIRS document added that the Tax Incentive Management Department (TIMD) of the Agency was also established under Nami to manage, implement and report on tax incentives as provided by relevant extant laws and regulations.
It further stated, “The FIRS hosted the first ever National Tax Dialogue in January 2020. The event brought together leaders, institutional stakeholders and tax experts from across the world to discuss matters relating to improving taxation especially in Nigeria. Attendees included President Muhammadu Buhari, AFdB President, Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina, Executive Governor of Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, Executive Secretary of the African Tax Administration Forum, Mr Logan Wort, among others.
“FIRS has fostered cooperation and collaboration with key stakeholders in the Nigerian Tax System to provide a unified view of our plans to eliminate critical bottlenecks which hitherto impede efficient tax administration. Some of the stakeholders include: Federal Ministry of Finance, Corporate Affairs Commission, Security agencies & MDA’s etc.
“The TaxProMax was developed and deployed. It is an in-house Tax Administration Solution, which covers the major processes of a tax administration system (Registration, Filing, Payment and Reporting) by the extant tax laws and IMF Tax Administration Diagnostic Assessment Tool (TADAT) standards. This solution became operational on 1st June 2020 and is in use in all FIRS tax offices.”