The House of Representatives Committee on Public Account has assured the Federal Capital Territory, Inland Revenue Services (FCT-IRS) of its support for revenue generation.

At a public hearing in Abuja, the chairman of the committee, Oluwole Oke (PDP-Osun), promised that the ninth National Assembly would support all revenue-generating agencies to enhance their operations.

“We will support you in whatever way to generate more revenue in the FCT, try to have a record of the entire people resident in Abuja.

“The data is important; ask for bank statements to know the actual tax to collect,” he said.

Mr Oke urged the general public and all taxpayers to report any violation of the law concerning the issuance of a tax clearance certificate by FCT-IRS management.

He advised that the FCT-IRS should consider the legislative arm as a collaborator that would work to ensure the smooth operation of the service.

Earlier, the acting chairman of the FCT-IRS, Haruna Abdullahi, disclosed that Electronic Tax Clearance Certificate (E-TCC) had been introduced.

He said the aim was to improve service delivery and checkmate activities of fraudsters who could forge such documents.

Mr Abdullahi explained that the E-TCC had fortified the process, thereby making it difficult for anyone to forge such a document because of QR CODE’s introduction.

He said this effort would help the service not to be short-changed and boost revenue for the FCT.

The FCT-IRS chairman further explained that TCC was a document being issued by the tax authority to certify that an individual or a business was compliant with the appropriate requirements as stated by law within a stipulated period.

He added that this was usually for the three preceding years. Mr Abdullahi said that this was in line with section 85 of the Personal Income Tax Act (PITA) 2011 as amended.

(NAN)