Covid-19: FIRS rolls out palliative measures for taxpayers

The Federal Inland Revenue Service says it is rolling out palliatives to cushion the effects of COVID-19 on Nigeria’s taxpayers.

FIRS chairman, Muhammad Nami in a statement said that following the Federal Government’s lockdown of FCT, Lagos, and the Ogun States on 29th March 2020 as one of the measures to contain the spread of Coronavirus, it was important for FIRS to remain committed to supporting the Taxpayers to continue to thrive even as the Service faces the pressure of generating increased tax revenue for the Government.

Throughout the days and months ahead, we want to reassure you that supporting Nigeria’s diverse and dynamic businesses through this uncertain time is our topmost priority. The response to the current situation is evolving rapidly, with advice and guidance changing daily. In the meantime, FIRS has set up a number of measures to provide support to Taxpayers in managing their tax obligations as they are impacted by the coronavirus outbreak.

The statements read: “Taxpayers can now take advantage of our simple, user-friendly and robust eFiling process to submit their documents online instead of visiting the tax offices. Our dedicated email addresses for each of the offices are available on our website: www.firs.gov.ng

“Late Returns Penalty (LRP) has been waived for taxpayers who pay early and file later. Supporting documents can also be emailed to the dedicated email addresses or submitted later to the tax offices by those who are not able to use the email facility.

“Remittance of VAT on or before 21st of every month has been extended to the last day of the month.”Taxpayers facing challenges in sourcing for FOREX to offset their liabilities are hereby given the option of paying in Naira at the prevailing Investors & Exporters (I & E) FOREX window rate on the day of payment.”