‘Government’s accountability will enhance voluntary tax compliance’

The persistent call for voluntary tax compliance notwithstanding, government’s accountability and transparent use of public finance will be the best appeal to the citizenry.

The Chairman, Lagos District Society, Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN), Mrs. Oluwatoyin Campbell, who made the observation on Monday, in Lagos, said the Federal Government’s recently launched Voluntary Asset and Income Declaration Scheme (VAIDS) would be more successful with accountability on the part of the three-tiered government.

Campbell, when she led the executive committee of the Lagos District on a courtesy visit to the President of CITN, Chief Cyril Ikemefuna Ede, at the Tax Professional House, Lagos, said the visit was, among others, to further enhance the collaboration with the institute.

This, she noted, is with a view to strategically position its members in preparation for the recently launched VAIDS, stressing the role of professionals in achieving this objective aimed at revenue generation to fund the yearly budgets.

She said the Lagos District “has the highest number of council membership, and can boast of seasoned professionals within the institute.
Responding, Ede assured that the institute is poised to sensitise the public on the importance of the Federal Government’s VAIDS, beginning with proper training of the institute’s members to appreciate and embrace the scheme, expressing hope that the project would succeed for the good of the nation.

Government, at the launch of the initiative, offered a nine-month window for Nigerians, who may have evaded tax, whether ignorantly or deliberately, in the past six years, to pay the correct taxes, thereby avoiding criminal prosecution at the expiration of the deadline.

The scheme embraces all Federal and State taxes such as Companies Income Tax, Personal Income Tax, Petroleum Profits Tax, Capital Gains Tax, Stamp Duties, Tertiary Education Tax, Technology Tax, Tenement Rates, and Property Taxes. It also covers all back taxes for the last six years in line with the statutory periods of limitation under the relevant tax statutes.