FIRS makes N2.5trn in six months

The Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS) said it realised over N2.5 trillion from collecting various taxes from January to June 2018.
This is contained in the revenue performance report for the first half of the year, submitted by the service, to the Ministry of Finance.
The report was made available to the media on Friday in Abuja by the Ministry’s Director of Information, Mr Hassan Dodo.
A breakdown of the figures showed that the Service had already realised 75 per cent of its total target for the year.
The report also showed that the latest figures was also an improvement over what was realised at the corresponding period in 2017 by 42 per cent.
An analysis of the total amount showed that N1.16 trillion was collected as Petroleum Profit Tax (PPT) as against the N636.1 billion collected in the same period of 2017.
From the Company Income Tax (CIT), the FIRS realised N680.09 billion which was more than the N551.94 billion that was generated in the previous year.
The Value Added Tax (VAT) yielded a total of N536.52 billion in the period under review, which was more than what was generated in 2017 by N68.84 billion.
Similarly, the Service generated N77.19 billion as Education Tax as compared to the N58.86 billion that was generated in 2017.
Also, the revenue from Stamp Duties was N7.49 billion which is N2.34 billion higher than what was realised in 2017 from Stamp Duties.
The FIRS said it also collected N1 billion as Capital Gains Tax, higher than the N941.62 million that was collected in 2017.
From the National Information Technology Development Fund, the Service said it collected N9.24 billion as levy in the months under review, as against the N8.5 billion collected in the same period in 2017.
Similarly, the Consolidated Tax Revenue for January to June 2018 was 49.42 billion, an amount that was higher than the N54.24 billion collected in 2017.
In the report, the FIRS expressed optimism that its effort will continue to have a significant outcome, particularly in increasing revenue for 2018.