Abuja – The Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), says on-going monitoring and verification exercise on tax collections by Deposit Money Banks appointed by FIRS and Customs is within its mandate.

It said this in a statement issued by Mr Ibrahim Mohammed, Head, Public Relations, on Sunday in Abuja, adding that the exercise was in order.

Mohammed said as contained in Section 6(1) of the RMAFC Act, 2004, the mandate provided that the commission should have powers to among others, monitor accruals to and disbursement of revenue from the Federation Account.

He said the organisation was not a tax authority but a revenue watchdog that monitored revenue collections by revenue generating entities like the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS).

Other entities it monitored revenue collections from were the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and others that remited directly into the federation account.

Mohammed said the revenue streams that accrued into federation account under the watch of RMAFC included tax (Withholding Tax and Value Added Tax) royalties, signature bonuses, customs duties and tariffs among others.

According to him, the has clarification is imperative following reports that challenges the legality of the exercise by vested interests.

“It is worth clarifying that RMAFC do not deal with individual tax payers directly but monitors collections by collaborating with sister agencies like Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN),NNPC, DPR, Customs and FIRS.

Related News

“This is to ascertain how much was actually collected and remitted into the federation account to minimise revenue leakages,” he said.

He recalled that in an earlier exercise covering January 2008 to June 2012, RMAFC had announced the recovery of N4.2 billion from banks, promising that more recoveries would be made.

“Buoyed by the huge success recorded, the commission following the approval of the National Economic Council (NEC) launched the second phase of the exercise covering the period of July 2012 to December 2015 which so far establishes N57.7 billion.

“Thus far, N48.7 billion has already been recovered and remitted into federation account while the remaining balance of N9.07 billion which relates to withholding tax on dividend only has been duly released to benefitting states Boards of Internal Revenue (SBIR),” he said.

Mohammed, however, said the commission was working to ensure transparency and accountability in revenue generation and remittance with a view to reducing revenue leakages.

He added that to achieve that, the commission sought further collaboration and cooperation of revenue generating and regulatory agencies, anti-corruption agencies, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and the media.

RMAFC was established to monitor accruals into and disbursement of revenue from the federation account, review from time to time, the allocation formula and principles in operation to ensure conformity with changing realities. (NAN)