FG earned N5tn from taxes in 2012 - FIRS

The Federal Inland Revenue Service on Sunday said it generated the sum of N5.007tn from taxes in the 2012 fiscal year for the Federal Government.

The amount is the highest cumulative tax collected in the history of the FIRS and represents an increase of N379.4bn or 8.20 per cent over the N4.628tn collected in 2011.

The 2012 tax revenue is also N1.365tn or 37.05 per cent higher than the Federal Government's target of N3.635tn contained in that year's budget.

These were contained in a statement issued on Sunday by the Director, Communications and Liaison Department, FIRS, Mr. Emmanuel Obeta.

Of the amount, the statement put taxes from non-oil sector at N1.806tn, representing 36.07 per cent of all taxes collected within the period under review.

The statement read in part, 'The contribution of non-oil taxes increased from N1.557tn or 33.65 per cent in 2011 to N1.806tn or 36.07 per cent in 2012. The N5.007tn is the highest cumulative tax collected in the history of the FIRS.

'This performance reflects the Service's unwavering commitment to its vision of making taxation the pivot of national development. It is note-worthy in this regard, that all the non-oil components of the taxes collected by the Service maintained the rising trend seen in previous years.'

Giving a breakdown of the collection, the statement said Companies Income Tax returned N847.5bn in 2012; Value Added Tax was N710.5bn as against N659.15bn in 2011; while Education Tax recorded N188.43bn as against N130.74bn in 2011.

The statement also said the National Information Technology Development Fund accounted for N9.13bn as against the N8.67bn in 2011, adding that a total sum of N51.59bn was realised from Personal Income Tax, Pre-Operational Levy, Capital Gains Tax and Stamp Duty.

These, FIRS said, were all pooled together into the Federal Government's Consolidated Revenue Fund Account.