The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) is mulling plans for Tax Clearance Certificate (TCC) to become a requirement for all travellers.
The Service said that the move was informed by the fact that TCC had become a key travel document requirement for Nigerians eyeing global destinations of choice.
A statement by the Director, Communications and Liaison Department of the Service, Emmanuel Obeta, quoted the Acting Chairman of FIRS, Alhaji Kabir Mashi, as warning tax defaulters to avoid embarrassment that non-compliance with existing provisions of the law might cause them by paying their taxes as and when due.
Mashi spoke at the Centennial Trade Fair organised by the Abuja Chambers of Commerce, Industry Mines and Agriculture, ABUCCIMA, where Nollywood actors, led by Salami Adebayo, popularly known as ‘Oga Bello’, staged a floor show (drama) to educate Nigerians about their tax obligations.
He warned: “For a few who may have decided to still run against the law. Please, note that very soon you won’t be able to do business or travel abroad – I mean any part of the world – without evidence of tax payment and attestation, otherwise called Tax Clearance Certificates, TCC.”
The FIRS boss, who was represented by the Coordinating Director, Direct Reports Group, Hajia Q. S. Seghosime, noted that it was against the law to do transactions with companies and entities that have no Taxpayer Identification Number, TIN, and urged members of the public to be properly guided.
He admonished Non- Governmental Organisations, NGOs, as partners in the drive, to improve the efficiency of the nation’s tax system, to understand that in addition to registering with the Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC, they were also under obligation to register with the tax authorities, obtain a TIN and file their annual tax returns with the Service.
Mashi, while recalling the contributions of the Service to the nation’s development over the past decades, explained that the trade fair provided an opportunity for the FIRS to interact with entrepreneurs, merchants, retailers, and policy makers in its drive to provide sustainable revenue for national development, in partnership with all stakeholders.
