The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has announced a total tax revenue collection of N5.5 trillion from January to June 2023. This is the biggest amount of tax money collected by the Service in the first six months of any fiscal year.
The Executive Chairman of the FIRS, Mr. Muhammad Nami, revealed this while presenting to the National Economic Council the 2023-2024 tax revenue generated on Thursday, July 20, 2023, at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
The presentation, which included the FIRS’ 2023 Half-Year Collection Report, revealed that the FIRS exceeded its target for the first half of the year by more than a hundred percent, compared to a mid-year target of N5.3 trillion.
The report stated that the tax revenue collected from the oil sector from January to June 2023, stood at N2.03 trillion, as against a target of N2.3 trillion; while non-oil tax collection stood at N3.76 trillion, as against a target of N2.98 trillion.
In his presentation, Mr. Nami also claimed that the Service collected a total of N1.65 trillion in tax revenues in June 2023. This amount represents the Service’s highest monthly tax revenue in a single month.
Describing it as “a good head start, despite stubborn headwinds,” Mr. Nami ascribed the outstanding achievement to increased voluntary tax compliance made possible by the automation of FIRS’ tax administrative processes.
“This is a good head start as we work towards meeting our target for the year. And it was achieved despite stubborn headwinds such as the impact of the currency redesign and 2023 General Elections on the economy in the first and second quarters of 2023”, Mr Nami stated.
“This half-year performance was achieved as a result of improved voluntary tax compliance by taxpayers, the continued improvement of automation of our tax administration processes, including the updated VAT filing processes; as well as our dogged engagement with stakeholders in both the formal and informal sectors of the economy” he added.
Commenting on the outlook for the remaining half of the year, the FIRS Executive Chairman gave assurances that the country should expect “better days ahead” in terms of tax revenue collection.
“We believe that the performance in the second half of the year would be better considering the continuing improvement to our tax administration processes and positive impact of current government’s policies on the economy,” said the Executive Chairman.
It should also be noted that the Service collected a total of N10.1 trillion in 2022, which was the greatest tax collection ever made by the FIRS in a single year.
