LASG: Banks Failed to Remit 10-year Taxes

Sets Nov 20 to shut defaulting banks, firms LASAA issues compliance notice on outdoor advertising firms

Gboyega Akinsanmi

The Lagos State Government yesterday disclosed that some banks had failed to remit their statutory taxes including withholding taxes on interest for more than one decade, thereby warning against tax default and evasion.

Consequently, the state government said it would begin shutting down the head offices of all corporate organisations in the state that had either evaded taxes or defaulted in remitting their statutory taxes from November 20.

The Commissioner for Finance, Mr. Akinyemi Ashade, gave the deadline in a statement yesterday, saying the state government would commence full-scale enforcement against all corporate organisations flouting its tax laws.

In a statement by its Commissioner for Information & Strategy, Mr. Steve Ayorinde, penultimate week, the state government had lamented the rise in the number of tax defaulters and evaders in the state, thereby directing all its revenue agencies to commence enforcement of payment by all tax defaulters with immediate effect.

The state government had lamented that 600,000 residents out of 4.9 million taxable residents “are up to date in paying their taxes,” a situation he said was not helpful to scale up the provision of infrastructure and other amenities for the people.

Citing the effect of tax default and evasion on infrastructure renewal and development, Ashade disclosed that some banks “have failed to remit statutory taxes including withholding taxes on bank interest for more than 10 years.”

He, therefore, said the enforcement agencies would commence the process of shutting down the head offices of all corporate organisations that had defaulted in remitting statutory taxes to the state government from November 20.

He said the state government had resolved to explore all lawful means to ensure compliance with statutory tax remittances, warning that any corporate organisation found to have defaulted or evaded tax would not be spared.

The commissioner added that it “is in the interest of defaulting companies and their management to remit the statutory taxes to the State within the grace period to avoid embarrassment to them and their shareholders.

“All law-abiding corporate organisations are advised to adhere to this directive as the state government has given enough grace period for them to remit their taxes.

“On November 20, the state government will commence the process of shutting down the corporate organisations, including banks who have failed to remit statutory taxes to government coffers. It is in the interest of companies who are yet to remit their taxes to do so on or before Monday.”

He said payment of taxes “will enable the state government to provide the necessary infrastructure and improve the standard of living of the people. When people pay their taxes promptly, the state government is encouraged to do more.

“The administration of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode has shown in the last two and half years that taxes paid are judiciously spent on projects that have impacted positively on the lives of Lagos citizens,” Ashade said.

At a stakeholders’ forum with outdoor advertisement practitioners at the weekend, the Managing Director of Lagos State Signage and Advertisement Agency (LASAA) said the agency would start clamping down on all outdoor advertising companies owing the agency.

The managing director explained that the agency had just finished its strategy session “to know how best to enforce those on our debtors’ list. We are scaling up our compliance and enforcement exercise to ensure that all pending outstanding dues to the agency are paid up on or beforeDecember 31.

“For clarity, we have categorized our enforcement teams into billboards, business signs and mobile advert vehicles. For billboards, we are going after all the defaulters who have refused to pay up their yearly permit fees.

“In line with our collection model, all billboard owners are subjected to a payment plan every year and we have discovered that 60 percent of the categories that are supposed to have paid up their outstanding to the agency are still in default.”