In 2007, FIRS got financial and administrative autonomy with the passage of the Federal Inland Revenue Service(establishment) Act 2007.
FIRS has since witnessed organisational restructuring, the enactment of a National Tax Policy, improved funding, legislation, stronger taxpayer education, dispute resolution mechanism, taxpayer registration and the introduction of the Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN), human capacity building, automation of key process, refund mechanism, attention to Double Taxation Agreements (DTA) and the automation of the operations of the service.The need to develop the non-oil tax as a sustainable source of funding national development also gained momentum. By 2016 and in collaboration with other agencies like CAC, CBN, OAGF and JTB had registered 814,000 new corporate taxpayers. By mid-2018, it had, working in conjunction with State Internal Revenue Service, (SIRSs) pushed the National Tax Roll, to about 19 million.
Other key achievements from 2015 to date include:
Developed and deployed 6 e-solutions to ease tax payment and make payment of taxes, easy, convenient anytime, anywhere, 24/7. Taxpayers are also allowed to file at the FIRS offices nearest to them;
Extended automation of VAT-Auto collect from Aviation to other key sectors like, Oil and Gas, Banks and the Financial institutions, Telecommunication, Power and the tourism sectors;
Implemented a tax amnesty programme that waived interest and penalty of defaulting taxpayers which netted N68 billion; Co-implemented the (Voluntary Assets and Income Declaration Scheme, VAIDS, co-initiated with the Federal Ministry of Finance and received over 5000 applications under the Scheme. It resulted in voluntary declaration of over N92 billion liability with over N34.63 billion paid so far by companies Strengthened the tax audit function of FIRS that led to the recovery of over N35.65 billion;
Improved 22% on the collection of 2016(N3.3trillion) by collecting N4.03 trillion in 2017 even with the crude oil price hovering at an average of $50 per barrel. By August 2018, FIRS has collected N1 trillion, above its 2017 collection. By October 2018 FIRS has collected N4. 3 trillion;
Received several awards, including the African Tax Administration Forum (ATAF) adjudged FIRS online Stamp Duty portal as the Best Innovation in Tax Administration on the African continent in 2016;
In 2016, the FIRS Chairman was named as ATAF Chairman in 2016. He was re-elected ATAF Chairman in 2018;
In 2017, Fowler’s contributions to tax administration and development, contributed to his appointment by the United Nations as a member of the International Committee of Tax Experts. The Executive Chairman, FIRS is the committee’s first Vice-Chairman.
