The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has urged states board of internal revenue service to leverage the use of technology to boost tax collection across the country.
The Executive Chairman of FIRS, Mr Muhammad Nami, gave the advice at the 46th meeting of the Joint Tax Board (JTB) in Abuja on Friday.
Nami said the theme of the meeting “leveraging technology solution for enhanced administration of indirect taxes” was chosen due to the reality of the current economic challenges in the country.
He said oil revenue was no longer feasible due to dwindling oil prices in the international market hence the need to put necessary strategies to enhance non oil sector for maximum revenue generation.
He disclosed that in 2019, it was only N250 billion that was generated from oil taxes, adding that what would be generated in 2020 would be far less than that of 2019.
“We must leverage on technology to enhance tax collection, the concept of using manual model in collecting revenue is no longer obtainable.
“People do a lot of businesses that you don’t see them physically, they do it online, we must use electronic system to tax such persons or companies.
“We meet the state tax authorities to talk to ourselves on how we can use technology, data and information to enhance tax collection in their respective states,” he explained.
Nami, who is also the chairman of JTB, told the state’s revenue board chairmen to brace up in the course of diversification of economy in the country.
He added that attention must be shifted from oil to non oil revenue and technology was key in achieving thatnan.
