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Lagos shuts hotels over N30.84m consumption tax fraud

The Lagos State Internal Revenue Service (LIRS) has closed down no fewer than nine hotels for failure to remit N30.84 million hotel occupancy and consumption taxes to the state government.

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The Lagos State Internal Revenue Service (LIRS) has closed down no fewer than nine hotels for failure to remit N30.84 million hotel occupancy and consumption taxes to the state government.

The Head, Distraint Unit of LIRS Ajibike Oshodi-Sholola, disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) after a statewide tax law enforcement exercise in Lagos on Wednesday.
According to her, the tax liabilities of the affected hotels were for the period from 12 months to two years.

“The tax liabilities of the hotels are specifically for 2013 to 2014 tax audit year,” she said.
Oshodi-Sholola said that LIRS was currently focusing on hotels, saying, “The aim is to ensure that no hospitality firm owes taxes and full tax compliance is achieved”.

NAN reports that some managers of the affected hotels admitted their tax liabilities, but promised to pay the debts.
Oshodi-Sholola said that false addresses given by some organisations were posing challenges often encountered by the LIRS tax enforcement team.

“Large numbers of the addresses which some of the organisations submitted to LIRS were fake and unrealistic addresses that are not in existence anywhere in the state.
The taxes of the companies with the unrealistic addresses will invariably affect and reduce government’s revenue and earnings from taxation. But any amount, which LIRS audits for an organisation to pay as tax, is contestable. So, companies should not because of fear of the amount the LIRS may give them be providing false addresses,” she said.
Source: NAN

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