The Federal Capital Territory Internal Revenue Service (FCT-IRS) has created a dedicated unit to tax more than 10,000 high-net-worth individuals in Abuja.

Its acting executive chairman, Michael Ango, announced the development in a circular on Sunday. According to him, the move is to boost internally generated revenue.

Mr Ango explained that the unit would focus on assessing and collecting income and other taxes and oversee compliance and enforcement of high-net-worth individuals’ tax obligations in Abuja.

He added that the unit would also be responsible for interacting with government agencies and other organisations, within and outside Abuja, regarding the taxation of HNIs.

Mr Ango further said the FCT-IRS was equally focused on properly identifying, profiling and managing high-net-worth individuals within the FCT for tax compliance purposes.

He described the HNI as any individual in paid employment, self-employed, carrying on business or having a passive annual income of N25 million and above in any financial year.

He, therefore, urged all taxpayers who fall within the category to comply with their tax obligations and pay all outstanding liabilities within two weeks.

“For our HNI taxpayers, we believe it is in our mutual interest that they comply voluntarily, and we have identified over 10,000 such individuals, with income in trillions of Naira, to whom we have started to send notices.

“We expect that they will respond and comply voluntarily. Otherwise, we will apply the relevant provisions of the law and exercise our powers to recover all the outstanding liabilities,” he said.

Mr Ango reiterated his commitment to enhancing revenue generation in the FCT to support the aggressive infrastructural transformation undertaken by the Nyesom Wike-led FCT Administration.

(NAN)