LIRS seales 10 Firms over N45.52m Tax Fraud

The Lagos State Internal Revenue Service (LIRS) says it sealed 10 companies in August for failure to remit N45.52 million Personal Income Tax of staff to the state government.

Mrs Ajibike Oshodi-Sholola, the Head, Training Unit of LIRS, made this known on Thursday, saying that the companies were sealed in August during a state-wide tax law enforcement exercise.

 

She said that the affected companies’ tax liabilities were for the period between 12 months and six years.

According to her, six companies were sealed on Aug. 4 for tax evasion amounted to N6.197 million, while four companies were sealed on Aug. 11 for a total of N39. 327 million tax evasion.

She said that out of the 10 firms that were sealed last month, about seven of them had come to the LIRS office to ratify and pay-off their debts.

However, Oshodi-Sholola urged firms operating in the state to regularly remit their taxes to the service to avoid the embarrassment and disruption that comes with dodging of taxes.

“Tax-payment is a civil responsibility of everyone because it is a major source of government revenue and also the only means government can provide the basic amenities for the citizens to improve their living standards,” she said.

Oshodi-Sholola said that LIRS usually sent two letters of notices to the defaulting companies before they embark on clamp-down.

According to her, LIRS has sent tax liabilities demand notice and notice of intent to the affected companies as required by the Personal Income Tax Act Amendment of 2011.

“Each of the letters that we send to the companies is received and acknowledged by either any of companies’ staff or the management of the firms.

“So, for any of the companies saying that LIRS do not notify them before coming to seal their premises, is not an excuse.

“Normally, firms are not even supposed to wait for anybody to remind them of their statutory obligation of paying tax to the government of the land where they operates,” she said.

The team leader noted that the enforcement would continue until tax-payers imbibed the culture of voluntary tax compliance, adding that tax evasion was a criminal offence.

According to her, the companies affected by the last month tax law exercise include hotels, oil and gas firm, a hospital and a real estate firm, among others.

Meanwhile, some of the affected companies complained of not being given fair hearing by the LIRS, saying that the service did not notify them before coming to shut-down their premises.