The Lagos Internal Revenue Service (LIRS) and the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) have revealed that both agencies will establish a Joint Audit or Investigation Team (JAIT) known as FIRS/LSBIR JAIT.
Both the LIRS and the FIRS signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Wednesday according to a statement sent to Ripples Nigeria.
The overall objective of the team would be to improve tax administration by reducing tax compliance costs thereby enabling ease of doing business in the country.
This will also encourage the exchange of information between the federal and state tax agencies to ensure efficiency, accurate assessments and increased revenue for funding Government expenditures.
Speaking on the collaboration, the Executive Chairman, LIRS, Ayodele Subair, said while the importance of the agreement was to foster greater collaboration between the two agencies, “There is no reason to debate the above as it has been established that tax compliance and good governance are expected to co-exist as the undividable social contract that binds citizens and governments anywhere in the world.
“Therefore, citizens and governments are expected to fulfil their end of the bargain in achieving a balance.,” Subair said.
Also, the FIRS Executive Chairman, Muhammad Nami, stated: ‘’the cooperation would enable the two authorities to work as a team in sharing relevant information that would assist both parties in their tax administration and enforcement roles as it would also provide capacity building between both tax authorities.
We will carry out a joint audit and investigation as a team, we will also conduct an automatic exchange of information for gathering data for the purpose of tax administration. With that information, we would be able to carry out tax administration seamlessly.”