LAGOS- The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has decried the attitude of business operators in Bayelsa State not paying tax.
In a statement issued in Lagos, the Controller of the Bayelsa State Office of the FIRS, Mr Patrick Iroro, lamented that firms in Bayelsa often shut their offices to FIRS officials.
Iroro said that 17 companies in Bayelsa State were owing about N150 million to the Federal Government as at December 4 this year.
“The general attitude of companies to tax payment is very poor.
“All efforts to make them comply voluntarily have not yielded positive results.
“I appeal to companies to pay their taxes to enable government perform its social responsibility,” the statement quoted Iroro as saying.
He said that top among the defaulters were big hotels and supermarkets that made huge profits but had refused to remit taxes to the Federal Government.
Iroro added that the FIRS had not sealed any firm for defaulting in paying tax, noting however, that the company had enlisted the services of the police to force the companies to pay their outstanding debts.
He said that officials of companies that could not pay were brought to the Yenagoa Tax Office, where they made statements and promised to pay.
The statement listed taxes expected from the companies as company income tax, value-added tax, education tax and capital gains tax.
Others are stamp duties, pre-operation levy, petroleum profit tax, withholding tax and national information technology development levy.
