Multiple taxation and sundry levies are two controversial issues in the tax system. In this interview with NIKE POPOOLA, the President, Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria, Mr. Kunle Quadri, clarifies these, explaining the rights and duties of the government and the tax payers.
What major lapses have you observed in Nigeria‘s tax system?
There are quite many lapses in the Nigerian tax structure but many of them are being addressed now. One of them is that we don‘t have accurate data on people that are supposed to pay taxes. Who are really the tax payers? A number of tax authorities are just compiling these data. There is also the issue of training and retraining of staff. This is a big problem because the authorities don‘t even have enough funds to train them. There is the need for the system to be independent; they should be able to get as many professionals as possible into the system. Not just tax professionals, but other professionals should be brought in according to the lines of discipline they actually belong to. For instance, legal practitioners and accountants are needed to come into the tax system. There should be political backing for the tax authorities. Some tax offices just issue assessments, and before you know it, someone is telling the chairman or whoever to reverse the assessment or else he may lose his or her job.
The issue of technology is also very important; we are far behind as far as technology is concerned. I mean, serious Information Communications Technology should be involved, where a tax payer, from the comfort of his office or home, can make returns. Above all, there is the issue of transparency, accountability and judicious use of the tax payers‘ money. If you are not accounting properly for the taxes taken by the tax authorities, then the tax payer will not be too willing to bring their money to you. If you are not using that money judiciously, tax payers will not be too willing to comply. So, these are issues that we are having within the tax system. But like I said, many of them are now been resolved. We are only expecting that in the next few years, we should have a more refined tax system because it is only the tax payers that can ask questions from the government. The reason is if I have not been paying my tax, then I won‘t have any moral justification to be asking any question on what the government has used the money for.
The issue of multiple taxation is a common complaint from taxpayers. How can this problem be resolved?
We should not forget that the tax professionals are available to assist the populace. For instance, let‘s look at the legal aspect; if you want to go to court, you cannot just go to court and appear by yourself. The judge will ask you: where is your lawyer? The same thing goes with an architect. In the drawing of building plans, you have to draw up the plan through an architect. The same thing goes with the tax system. There are tax professionals that have been trained in the law, in terms of the policy and in terms of relating with administration. So, nobody should be saying there is multiple taxation or whatever. If there are issues that are to be resolved, take them to your tax professionals. Take them to the CITN professionals that have been actually trained along that line. They should be able to tell you ‘these are the amounts that you are supposed to pay, these are taxes that you are supposed to pay and these are what should not be paid.‘
Can you differentiate between taxes and the different charges that some who claim to be tax officials go about collecting on the streets?
Read More:http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art201010311154034
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