FG Orders Contractors To Show TIN Before Payment | The Precision

As part of efforts to block revenue leakages by
contractors, the Federal Government has ordered vendors of Ministries,
Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to display their Tax Identification
Numbers (TINs) on their invoices before payments are effected by the
MDAs.

According to a statement issued in Abuja on Tuesday, the directive
was handed down by the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, to the
Accountant General of the Federation, Alhaji Ahmed Idris.

“The order is part of resolute efforts by the government to block
revenue leakages by the MDAs’ vendors. About N100 billion has been
discovered as tax revenue shortfall by contractors between 2012 and
2017,” the statement read.

The statement quoted Adeosun, in a memo titled ‘Compliance with Tax
Payments by Federal Government Vendors’, as having disclosed that
persistent leakages in revenue remittances by vendors had been uncovered
by the Government’s Project Lighthouse, a systemwide revenue
intelligence data-warehouse.

 The leakages, according to her, were due to lack of TIN particularly
on Value Added Tax (VAT), Withholding Tax (WHT) and other related
inflows into the government coffers.

The Minister said, “In order to address these lapses in the
implementation of the 2017 Budget as well as boost the revenue accruable
to the Government, all MDAs should be directed to insist that invoices
submitted by vendors for payments must clearly state the TIN.

“This is to confirm tax compliance by relevant government vendors before payments are effected.”

She added that the directive to the government vendors is in
compliance with the provisions of both the Federal Inland Revenue
Service (FIRS) and Procurement Acts of 2007 respectively.

The Minister stated that spot checks would be undertaken on MDAs to confirm compliance with the directive.