The Joint Tax Board (JTB) believes that administration of Voluntary Asset and Income Declaration Scheme (VAIDS) should be vigorously pursued in full collaboration between the taxpayers and tax authorities to reap the benefit of the scheme to the nation.
In a communiqué issued after the JTB 138th meeting in Abuja, members urged taxpayers to take advantage of the incentives contained in the Voluntary Assets and Income Declaration Scheme. VAIDS is a time-limited opportunity for taxpayers to regularize their tax status relating to previous tax periods. VAIDS is a 9 months programme that the Federal Government started on the 1st of July. Taxpayers have four months left to embrace the scheme or defaulters will be named or shamed according to the Finance Minister, Kemi Adeosun.
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In exchange for fully and honestly declaring previously undisclosed assets and income, taxpayers will benefit from forgiveness of overdue interest and penalties, and the assurance that they will not face criminal prosecution for tax offences or be subject to tax investigations. VAIDS ushered in an opportunity to increase the nation’s general tax awareness and compliance. At the meeting themed “Administering VAIDS in Nigeria: The Roles of Stakeholders”, the JTB resolved that implementation strategies on National Tax Policy (NTP) should be intensively carried out to ensure efficient and effective service delivery and optimum revenue generation through cooperation amongst the general public, tax authorities and all relevant stakeholders.
The Board noted that the Nigerian Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (NASME) assured the JTB of their readiness to collaborate with the Board to achieve increased taxpayer database by sharing the NASME’s information on registered twenty-six (26 million) Small and Medium Enterprises with the Board. The National Identification Management Commission (NIMC) is to collaborate with JTB in the aspect of data sharing and collocation of NIMC’s system with the FIRS and State IRS offices; even as States, Internal Revenue Service (IRS) agreed to designate officers in their offices with phone numbers for prompt collection of produced driver’s license.
Iheanyi Nwachukwu
