The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has sought collaboration with the Nigeria Police Force to go after tax defaulters in 2019.
Babatunde Fowler, the Executive Chairman of FIRS, said this when he hosted the acting Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, at the FIRS headquarters, on Thursday.
According to a statement by Wahab Gbadamosi, Head of the Communications and Servicom Department of FIRS, Fowler said over 45,000 millionaire tax evaders were discovered in 2018 and FIRS was able to recover N23billion through substitution of their bank accounts.
He, however, added that the service would go after another estimated 40,000 millionaire tax defaulters in 2019.
He requested the Nigeria Police to help the FIRS bring the tax evaders to book. He also thanked the Nigeria Police Force for its support and collaboration over the years in assisting FIRS to achieve its target.
His words: “Let me put on record that the Nigeria Police Force has been extremely helpful to FIRS. Without the Police, I doubt if the Service would have been able to achieve what we have achieved.
“2018 was a successful year. The FIRS collected a total of N5.320 trillion of tax revenue. This is the highest revenue collection in the history of the service.”
Adamu assured FIRS that the Police would continue to support the service because the job of revenue generation was critical to the survival of the nation.
The Acting IG also commended the service rendered by FIRS which has generated revenue to make the country survive