Nami, at a workshop on effective audit of multinational
corporations for domestic revenue mobilisation in Nigeria, which was organised
by the service in partnership with the Tax Justice Network, also said the
service has created 35 additional tax audit units over the last one year to
stem illicit financial outflows as well as improve tax compliance rate among
corporations.
He said many “rich multinational corporations do not pay the
right taxes due from them, let alone pay their taxes voluntarily.”
He, however, stated that some of the companies were “leading
in tax compliance in various sectors.”
Citing a 2014 report by the High-Level Panel on Illicit
Financial Flows from Africa, the FIRS boss stated that “Nigeria accounted for
30.5 per cent of money lost by the continent through illicit financial flows.”
“At the FIRS, we are paying greater attention to tax audit
in general and transfer pricing audit in particular in order to improve the
level of tax compliance in the country.
“As a result, in the last one year, we have created more
than 35 additional tax audit units and deployed experienced and capable staff
to take charge of these offices,” he added.
Nami, in a statement by the Director, Communications and
Liaison Department, Dr. Abdullahi Ahmad, said with the signing of the 2021
budget of N13.58 trillion by President Muhammadu Buhari and given the recent
decline in oil resources, the major revenue earner for the country, taxation is
expected to continue to shoulder the government’s budget performance the way it
did in 2020.
This, he said, underscored the importance of the workshop,
particularly as tax audit of multinational corporations remained crucial in the
country’s domestic revenue mobilisation efforts.