The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, has ruled out an extension of the of the tax amnesty programme deadline saying sufficient period had been given to tax payers to voluntary and truthfully declare their assets and income which had not been declared previously.
Speaking while appearing on the Good Morning Nigeria programme of the Nigerian Television Authority, Adeosun revealed that the data mining efforts of the federal government through the Federal Ministry of Finance has identified a new batch of over 130,000 high net worth individuals and companies that have potential tax underpayments.
She disclosed that the data was currently being compiled by Project Lighthouse in preparation for the closure of the ongoing Voluntary Assets and Income Declaration Scheme (VAIDS), which ends on 31st March 2018.
“The data has been received from a number of sources including land registries of the governments of Lagos, Kaduna, Kano and Ogun States as well as the Federal Capital Territory,” she stated.
“In addition, Nigeria has been able to request data from a number of nations including traditional tax havens. The data has been received from a number of foreign jurisdictions under the exchange of information protocols.
“Under the exchange of information protocols, this information relates to bank records and financial filings for tax purposes and is obtained from tax havens who are signatories to the information sharing agreements such as British Virgin Islands and Mauritius.
“The sole interest of the federal and state governments in the use of the data is in raising tax revenues. There is absolutely no hidden agenda on the use of the data,” she added.
Adeosun hailed the ‘unprecedented’ level of cooperation between the federal and state governments, which she said was a marked change from the past when the various arms of government did not align their efforts and advised non-compliant tax payers to seek professional advice and to also consult relevant literature available from the tax authorities on tax rules.
