The Federal Capital Territory Internal Revenue Service (FCT-IRS), has trained 200 personnel as part of efforts to ensure tax compliance and enforcement.

This is contained in a statement issued by the FCT-IRS Head of Corporate Communications, Mustapha Sumaila on Wednesday in Abuja.

Mr Sumaila said the workshop was organised in collaboration with the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN).

The theme of the capacity building was “Tax Intelligence and Information Gathering, Tax Audit and Investigation”.

The statement quoted the Acting Executive Chairman of the FCT-IRS, Haruna Abdullahi, as saying the “importance of capacity building to the implementation of the FCT-IRS mandate cannot be overemphasised”.

According to Mr Abdullahi, capacity building is one of the core objectives of FCT-IRS, as it aligns with the projects as well as evolving challenges faced by the service.

Mr Abdullahi said tax officials required technical and verbal skills to effectively audit and interact with taxpayers including politically exposed persons.

He said that the responsibility of the service was critical to the success of the FCT Administration.

He said in view of that, skillful tax men and women were needed to rapidly grow the tax net.

The FCT-IRS boss said that topics discussed at the training were strategically selected to reflect audit, investigation and enforcement.

According to him, the service has concluded plans to commence auditing of individuals, especially high network individuals including politicians.

Mr Abdullahi commended the efforts of the president of CITN Adesina Adedayo for providing experienced resource persons for the workshop.

The Director, Human Capital Management and Development FCT-IRS, Umar Jada said the reason for prioritising training was to improve service delivery.

Also speaking, Mr Adedayo said the enlightenment of taxpayers could not be overemphasised.

He said that information dissemination and awareness was critical to compliance, adding that efforts must be made toward sensitisation.

Mr Adedayo said that adequate sensitisation would help boost tax collection as well as minimise the excuse of ignorance. 

(NAN)