The House of Representatives has urged the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to recover N5.2 trillion taxes owed to the federal government by Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).

This followed the adoption of a motion by Rep. Esosa Iyawe (LP-Edo) during plenary in Abuja on Thursday.

The motion is titled: “Alleged Non-Remittance and Under-Remittance of Tax by MDAs, Oil Companies and other organisations.”

Mr Iyawe said that in 2021, FIRS revealed that N17.690 billion was owed to the federal government in tax by some undisclosed companies, adding that no action was taken to identify the firms or recover the funds.

He said audit reports from 2015 to 2019 revealed that government agencies owed hundreds of billions as taxes, which comprised underpayments and under-recovered taxes.

“Audit reports from 2015 to 2019 revealed government agencies owing hundreds of billions in FIRS taxes comprising underpayments and under-recoveries and over 5,000 companies and MDAs of the federal government owing N5.2 trillion in withholding taxes,” he said.

The lawmaker said if the situation was not addressed, the effects could be crippling the country’s already dwindling economy.

He said that while small-scale businesses in Nigeria were overburdened by FIRS, states and local government authorities on multiple taxation, multinational companies and other corporate organisations were let off the hook.

Adopting the motion, the House mandated its Committees on Public Accounts and Finance to investigate non-compliance on tax remittance by MDAs.

The committee is to report back within four weeks for further legislative action.

(NAN)