THE Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has announced a total tax revenue collection of N5.5 trillion for the half-year period of January to June 2023.
The executive chairman of the FIRS, Muhammad Nami, disclosed this while presenting the 2023-2024 tax revenue outlook to the National Economic Council (NEC) at the latter’s meeting on Thursday, July 20, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The presentation, which contained the FIRS 2023 Half-Year Collection Report, showed that the Service achieved over 100 per cent of its target for the first-half of the year, when compared with a mid-year target of N5.3 trillion.
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According to the report, tax revenue collected from the oil sector from January to June 2023 stood at N2.03 trillion as against a target of N2.3 trillion, while non-oil tax collection was N3.76 trillion, as against a target of N2.98 trillion.
Nami stated that the Service collected a total of N1.65 trillion tax revenues in June 2023 alone. This sum is the highest tax revenue collected by the Service in any single month.
“This is a good head start as we work towards meeting our target for the year. And it was achieved despite stubborn headwinds such as the impact of the currency redesign and 2023 general elections on the economy in the first and second quarters of 2023.
“This half-year performance was achieved as a result of improved voluntary tax compliance by taxpayers and the continued improvement of automation of our tax administration processes, including the updated VAT filing processes, as well as our dogged engagement with stakeholders in both the formal and informal sectors of the economy,” he explained.
Nami assured that the country should expect “better days ahead” in terms of tax revenue collection.
“We believe that the performance in the second half of the year would be better considering the continuing improvement of our tax administration processes and positive impact of current government’s policies on the economy,” he said.
The Service had achieved a total collection of N10.1 trillion in the year 2022, being the highest tax collection ever made by the FIRS in a single year.
Harrison Edeh is a journalist with the International Centre for Investigative Reporting, always determined to drive advocacy for good governance through holding public officials and businesses accountable.