The Federal Capital Territory Internal Revenue Service (FCT-IRS) on Tuesday 18th January commenced an awareness campaign with a roadshow enlightenment strategy to awaken and increase tax paying culture on both individuals and organisations.
The Acting Chairman of FCT-IRS, Haruna Abdullahi, who led the roadshow, stated that awareness creation of this magnitude was one of the strategies the Service had adopted to reach its 2022 tax target.
The Chairman noted that the Service has adopted several measures to achieve greater positive attitudes of people towards tax paying While he noted that the sensitization campaign for improving tax is just taking its starting phase, he also disclosed that the service may resort to legal prosecution and penalties for tax defaulters.
According to Haruna, it is an offence for individuals and organisations not to file their tax returns at the appropriate time.
He stated further that the campaign would continuously go on for four days and will not be limited to the city center, but would be taken to all Area Councils, to ensure that all residents were properly carried along.
Haruna said, ” the roadshow was to create an impression that FCT-IRS exists and also tell the public our roles and services we provide, and to also enlighten the public on their responsibilities to the country and FCT in particular.
“We have realised that in the past years, a lot of people have asked, is there FCT-IRS. So it is now our plan to set every January as our tax enlightenment drive.
“We want to inform residents in Abuja that they have the civic responsibilities to pay their taxes and also file their annual tax returns. They should know that individuals must file their returns on or before the March 31st deadline, while organizations are also expected to file their returns on or before 31st of January and there is penalty for defaulting.
“We must be conscious that penalties for tax defaulters are framed as the FCT-IRS is guided by personal income tax and the FCT tax Act”, he added.