Lagos eTax platform secure, confidential, protected-LIRS Chairman

The Lagos Inland Revenue Service (LIRS) eTax platform has been described as confidential, secure and protected as it was designed with the taxpayers in mind.

The Chairman, LIRS, Mr Ayodele Subair disclosed this at an e-tax stakeholders’ meeting held recently at the Civic Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos in response to the growing concerns about the confidentiality of the electronic model of tax administration.

Explaining the reason behind the tax system, Subair said the purpose was to develop a tax system that is seamless and user-friendly where taxpayers can complain and perform their civic responsibilities in the comfort of their homes and offices.

He expressed delight at the quality and volume of feedback from members of the public since its launch it in October, saying plans were underway to address the issues raised

“Since the commissioning of the scheme on the 1st of October 2019, we are encouraged by the participation of respondents as seen from the feedback we are getting. We are taking notes to see how we can improve the platform’s capabilities to promptly address the issues and concerns raised in the feedback we got. Let me use this medium to assure you that the platform is secure, confidential and protected,” he explained.

Speaking on why companies under the payee scheme should register all their staff before 2020, he said, “We implore all registered companies registered under the payee scheme to register all their staff before the year runs out. This is necessary for the 2020 annual return cycle. Our staff at various locations will be available to attend to all complaints and enquiries arising from your experiences.”

Commenting, Managing Director of Alpha Beta Consulting, Otunba Akin Doherty, opined that the e-tax electronic invoicing and billing platform as well as its multichannel digital payment collection functions enable simple, seamless and secure tax payment collections for increased revenue, adding that e-tax comes with state-of-the-art, real-time enterprise modelling and accounts reporting, reconciliation tools, thus, improving revenue collection activities and enabling a rapid executive decision-making.

Doherty added that data capture could be increased from revenue forms and fewer documents requiring manual intervention through its digitised enumeration, audit and payment processes, which is achieved through its efficient document management, collaboration, permission and document routing and approval workflows all in real-time across the multiple tax offices.