Nigeria: FIRS targets N5trn tax from Twitter, other digital platforms

The Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Mohammed Nami, has said that the impending registration of Twitter and other social media platforms in the country is expected to boost the agency’s projected revenue for 2022 by about N5 trillion.

Nami stated this when he appeared before the House of Representatives’ Committee on Finance in Abuja.

He said that FIRS has set a revenue target of N10.1 trillion for 2022, noting that the projected revenue  for 2022 is about N5 trillion above that of 2021 because of the expected registration of social media platforms.

He stated: “The total collection that we are trying to generate and remit to the appropriate accounts, including the federation account in 2022, is N10.1 trillion.

“Twitter and others are already registering with us, so we are aware. So we expect that the impact of those registrations would be felt positively by FIRS and that is why the targets are going up.”

On the 2020 budget performance, Nami said FIRS collected a total of N4.950 trillion against targeted revenue of N5.076.

“The service achieved a total revenue collection of N4.950 trillion against budgeted N5.076 trillion representing 98 percent.  Out of the total collection, non-oil and oil components contributed N3.435 trillion and N1.515 trillion respectively.

“Consequently, the cost of collection (4% net of 2% Nigerian Customs Service VAT) of N130.45 billion was achieved against the budget of N180.76 billion to fund the three operational expenditure heads for the year,” he said.

Reviewing the 2021 budget performance, Nami noted that FIRS had achieved 43 percent of the projected revenue as of June.