The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Internal Revenue Services (IRS) has reported a total revenue collection of N252.8 billion for the 2024 fiscal year from all sources.
The Acting Chairman of the FCT, Michael Ango disclosed this on Thursday at the end-of-the-year media briefing, stressing that the money generated represented a 19.8 per cent increase on last year’s threshold of N211.1 billion and just about 100 per cent of the revenue target for the year.
Ango also attributed the performance to the efforts of staff and management of FCT-IRS as well as support from secretariats, departments and agencies of the FCT for supporting and collaborating with the FCT in this regard.
Ango, who was appointed as acting executive chairman in August 2024, listed some of the significant steps to boost the revenue of the service to include a review and expansion of the organisational structure of the FCT IRS.
He said this was in addition to the creation of new departments such as the audit department, debt management and enforcement, that were not previously existing.
“We also expanded the tax operations department by creating two new directorates, one mainly focused on ministries, departments and agencies and the other one focused on individuals, enterprises and partnerships.
“So for those of us who are not tax people, let me explain. Typically, in the FCT we collect taxes from individuals but also we collect taxes from the individuals through corporate entities,” he said.
He added that the service had also reached an agreement with all the six area councils to remit all taxes on their behalf and disburse accordingly.
“We have different agencies in the FCT that collect revenue on behalf of the FCT administration and these agencies sometimes or as the practice is right now collect all these revenue items individually.
“As we know, even globally this is not best practice and so the minister has decided or has directed that all the agencies in the FCT must have one central point for revenue collection,” he said.
He allayed the fears of the area councils on revenue losses that the revenues would be collected on their behalf.
“However, this revenue will remain theirs. All we are doing is to assist them to collect and aggregate it. Thereafter the monies will be disbursed to them in their various accounts,” he added.
The chairman revealed that FCT-IRS had also finalised plans to collect entertainment tax which will be collectable from relaxation grounds, parks, restaurants, event centres and other entertainment activities.
Olawale Ajimotokan
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