Kwara State Internal Revenue Service (KW-IRS) said it generated over N9.59 billion as revenue in the first quarter of 2021.
The Executive Chairman, KW-IRS, Mrs Shade Omoniyi said this to journalists in Ilorin on Tuesday at a press briefing held at KW-IRS office.
Omoniyi described the feat as a great improvement over the N6.22 billion recorded in the last quarter of 2020.
She said it was the highest so far in the history of the service without an extraordinary item.
According to her, 2020 IGR performance was solely attributable to the COVID-19 incidence and contact based collection which proved ineffective while the lockdown lasted.
Omoniyi, however, attributed the improvement in 2021 to efforts by the service to introduce online payment platforms to ease payment of all taxes and a reflection of the Harmonized Bill System.
She said the harmonised bill system helped to bring all eligible businesses into the tax net and stopped illegal negotiations between tax payers and collectors, thereby, preventing diversion of funds.
“Harmonised bill helped a lot in achieving this feat.
” It helped to calculate, consolidate and communicate all payable tax revenue and non- tax revenue as applicable to each eligible tax payer in the state within an assessment year,” she said.
The IRS chairman identified other measures taken to include re-profiling of tax payers, expansion of ticketing model for the informal sector, making mandatory the submission of schedules along with remittances and carrying out prompt enforcement on recalcitrant tax payers.
She attributed the remarkable growth in the 2021 first quarter IGR to Kwara State Government’s continued effort to ensure that the economic activities of the state recovered fast from crippling effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Omoniyi said that all revenue lines of the MDAs in Kwara State were same as approved and provided for by existing relevant laws.
She said that KW-IRS had not introduced new taxes since the inception of Gov. AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq.
According to her, only the required and legitimate taxes were being paid by tax payers and collected appropriately into the coffers of the state.
She assured that KW-IRS would continue to work and ensure improvement in revenue generation and as well meet up the N29 billion targeted for the year.
Omoniyi also assured that the service would continue its collaboration with all MDAs and stakeholders in the state for effective and efficient collection of all that was legally due from tax payers.
She said that the service would strategically and systematically play its part by using appropriate technology and committed workforce for the growth of revenue for the state. (NAN)
