How we earned N2.7trillion in 9 months - Fowler

Fowler made this known in an interview with Daily Trust Newspaper on Thursday, October 3, 2016 in Abuja.

“We have seen an increase in non-oil revenue. In terms of percentages, non-oil contribution, out of the total revenue target, is about 70 percent. In Naira terms, as of September we had achieved about 81 per cent of our contributions to this year’s budget. The total amount collected was about N2.7trillion, which is 81 percent of the third quarter cumulative budget,” he said.

Fowler explained that revenue from oil and non-oil sources as at September 2016 was given as N2.7trillion, which represents 81 percent of the third quarter cumulative target of 3.12tr in the 2016 budget.

He explained further that tax agency recorded more increase in tax collection from the telecommunications and multinational companies as well as from the non-oil revenue sector.

“A few of the companies that didn’t have the capacity to pay their accruing taxes, we gave repayment plans. [Our plans] have not really affected their businesses as an ongoing concern. It wasn’t a situation whereby we shut down companies and they laid off staff. They are still operating their businesses so that they can still pay their taxes,” he said.

ALSO READ: FIRS targets N4.9 trillion tax revenue in 2016

Fowler noted that the success recorded by the FIRS was as result of the expansion of the tax net and compelling a number of companies that have the financial capacity but not interested in paying tax to pay.