FIRS mulls law to overhaul revenue collection, regulate cryptocurrency

The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) says an Executive Bill which seeks to overhaul revenue administration in Nigeria, including regulation of the cryptocurrency industry, is being put together for transmission to the National Assembly.

The FIRS Chairman, Zacch Adedeji, disclosed this at a stakeholders’ engagement with a joint committee of the National Assembly on Finance in Lagos on Saturday, August 17, 2024.

Adedeji said the aim of the bill is to, among others, simplify tax laws, harmonise the collection of revenue as well as seek the replacement of obsolete tax laws with new ones in line with the current economic realities.

He stated: “By the special grace of the Almighty God, we will bring a bill for a law to overhaul the whole process of revenue administration in Nigeria. Part of what we intend to achieve with this is to harmonise revenue collection, making tax laws very simple to understand and to be in tune with our current realities.

“For example, the Stamp Duty Act was made in 1939 when there was no internet connectivity or any of the features of modern society as we have it now. Even in 1939, states and local government councils had not been created.

“So, we need to bring that law up to date. This is one of the reasons President Bola Tinubu set up the Taiwo Oyedele-led Fiscal Policy and Tax Reform Committee to look into all these laws and make recommendations.

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“Today, we cannot run away from the cryptocurrency ecosystem because it is the in-thing.  But as it stands in Nigeria today, there is no law that regulates cryptocurrency operations.

“We need a law that regulates that area of our economy. This is why we are having this engagement with the legislators. We will regulate it in a way that is not injurious to the economic development of Nigeria.

“These are some of the things we are bringing together in an Executive Bill to overhaul revenue administration for the development of the country.”

On the revenue target of N19.4 trillion set for FIRS in 2024, Adedeji said the revenue collection agency is on course to achieve the target.

“We set a target of N19.4 trillion for ourselves. We are almost in the third quarter of the year and with the figures we are seeing so far, I can say we are on the path of achieving our target,” the FIRS boss added.

Commending FIRS for organising the stakeholders’ meeting, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, Senator Sani Musa, said the agency should be the regulating and collecting agency for all taxes for Nigeria, noting that the National Single Window programme will address the inefficiency in revenue collection in the country.

The Star