How Nigeria loses N5.4trn to tax evasion by multinationals ─FIRS

*With the signing of Budget 2021 of N13.588trillion by President Muhammadu Buhari, and in view dwindling oil resources in the country, taxation is expected to assume the government’s budget performance like it did in 2020 ─Muhammad Nami, Executive Chairman of FIRS

Alexander Davis | ConsumerConnect

Due to failure of several multinational corporations operating in Nigeria but not paying the right taxes due from them, besides paying their taxes involuntarily, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has said the country lost over $178 billion (about N5.4 trillion) through tax evasion between 2007 and 2017.

It was learnt Mr. Muhammad Nami, Executive Chairman of FIRS, disclosed this Monday, in Abuja, FCT, at a ‘Workshop on Effective Audit of Multinational Corporations for Domestic Revenue Mobilisation in Nigeria”, which the FIRS and Tax Justice Network organised.

The FIRS Chief disclosed that in an attempt to halt illicit financial flows out of the country and improve tax compliance rate, the Service created 35 additional Tax Audit Units in the country in 2020.

Though some multinational corporations were “leading in tax compliance in various sectors” Nami, however, expressed worries that “many rich multinational corporations do not pay the right taxes due from them, let alone pay their taxes voluntarily.”

He cited a 2014 report by the High-Level Panel on Illicit Financial Flows from Africa, which stated that Nigeria accounted for 30.5 percent of money lost by the continent through illicit financial flows.

With the signing of the 2021 budget of N13.588trillion December 31, 2020, by President Muhammadu Buhari, and given the recent decline of oil resources, taxation is expected to continue to shoulder the Government’s budget performance like it did in 2020.