Why we want to change FIRS name - Adedeji

The Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, Zaccheus Adedeji, on Wednesday, explained the need for the change of the FIRS to the Nigeria Revenue Service.

Mr Adedeji, while appearing before the House of Representatives Committee on Finance, explained that the current name does not reflect the true function of the agency, and limits its power to carry out functions.

It would be recalled that President Bola Tinubu sent four bills on tax reform to the National Assembly for passage.

One of the bills, the Nigeria Revenue Service Act repeals the FIRS Act, and also makes a name change.

The other bills are the Tax Administration Bill, the Nigeria Revenue Service Establishment Bill, and the Joint Revenue Board Establishment Bill.

Mr Adedeji explained that the "federal" and "inland" in the current name limit the powers of the commission.

In case of "federal", he stated that the agency currently collects money for federal, states and local governments with the VAT collection.

He noted that the agency equally collects funds outside the shores of Nigeria from Amazon, Google and others, hence, the agency cannot be called "inland".

"Today, we are called the Federal Inland Revenue Service as though we only collect revenue for the federal government or within Nigeria.

"That was the case when the service was established, but today, one of the revenues we collect is Value Added Tax (VAT), and 85 per cent of this VAT goes to the states. Therefore, our name no longer accurately reflects our operations," he said.

Mr Adedeji added,

"Today, we collect online charges for Jumia, Google, and others. As the Nigeria Revenue Service, we can collect any revenue, whether from within Nigeria or outside."

Many of the lawmakers expressed concerns over the implication of the bills, particularly the possibility of making some revenue collecting agency redundant.

The FIRS boss assured that it won't lead to that.

He added that the new bills did not envisage merger of agencies or introduction of new taxes.