Fowler: New TIN Registration System ‘ll Create Tax-friendly Environment

Chairman, Joint Tax Board, Mr. Babatunde Fowler, has declared that the new National Tax Identification Number (TIN) Registration System and Consolidated Taxpayers’ Database would help to engender a taxfriendly environment in the country and lay a foundation for less governmental dependence on loans, aids and grants.

Fowler, who is also Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), made this declaration yesterday in Awka during the South-East regional flag-off of the new registration system.

The New TIN Registration System, he said, would improve the efficiency and output of the entire tax administration process and provides enhanced convenience to the taxpayers as well as the tax administrators. He added that the new system would also guarantee that each taxpayer’s details are readily available every time and anywhere.

“A major feature of the new system is that it possesses the capability to integrate with all relevant agencies by leveraging on already captured data. With its ability to deploy analytics to discover underlying correlating trends and patterns, better visibility of the taxpayer is assured inherently leading to increased Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) for all tiers of government.

“Thus, the new system reduces the burden of taxpayer information management, while at the same time significantly reducing the cost of collection,” Fowler said.

He explained that the system maintains the identification of an individual taxpayer by assigning a unique and universal TIN that make it possible for the taxpayer to view, retrieve or update his/ her tax profile from anywhere and at any time.

The JTB Chairman commended revenue performances achieved by Anambra State and the whole of the South-East geo-political zone. He noted that Anambra State revenue collections, which stood at N10.4 billion in 2014, have grown by 84.6 percent as at 2018, with a total annual collection of N19.3 billion collected as IGR for the year.

This positive trend, he added, would continue in 2019 as half year figures for 2019 indicated a 22.9 percent growth over the correlating period for 2018.