Stakeholders at the 22 annual tax conference organised by the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN) in Lagos, unanimously agreed on Friday that collaboration between the tax authorities, practitioners and payers will improve compliance and enhance professionalism.
“There must be a mutual trust and respect between all three parties because the taxpayer is expected to trust the tax practitioner and part of that trust means that there has to be a better engagement,” Ayodele Subair, executive chairman, Lagos State Internal Revenue Service said during the panel session.
Speakers at the session were of the view that the three parties are working for a common goal and that there should be trust and respect which will lead to cordial relationship.
Other speakers who discussed the topic: ‘Nexus between Tax Practice, Managing a Tax Function and tax Administration’, include Azeez Alatoye, managing partner, Ascension Consulting Services, and Dayo Salako, head of tax, Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited.
They called on the practitioners to take education and enlightenment of tax payers seriously. Also they said there should be advocacy to ensure autonomy of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
The discussants said governance principle and ethical standards need to be established in tax administration.
“When we collaborate, it is going to increase transparency, and appropriate tax will go to the government. It is going to be the best for everyone”, the speakers agreed.
Responding to a question on the informal sector, Subair said to include the sector in the tax net, there should be a good database.
“Informal sector players are almost non-existence. They deal in cash. Corporate governance is not in their priority. As tax administrator, you must know your customer,” Subair said.
Corroborating with Subair, Barizaage Adoage Norteh, executive chairman, River State Internal Revenue Service, said the informal sector is underdeveloped.
Sharing an experience on how River State is succeeding in capturing the informal sector, he said the technique they use is to deal with the union or association.
Norteh who spoke on ‘modalities for effective inclusion of informal sector in the Nigerian tax system’, during the second session, said one of the challenges is that some of these people do not have location and the issue of knowing and determining what they earn.
He was concerned that tax money is not always used for development. “We need to get the government to do a lot in terms of social contract,” Norteh said.
