Date: 2017-02-03

The Kwara State Internal Revenue Service (KWIRS) is optimistic of increasing by 100% its internally generated revenue, IGR for 2017.

Executive Chairman of KWIRS, Dr. Muritala Awodun in a presentation of the aganecy's past performance explained that the agency increased the IGR profile of the state from N7.2billion in 2015 when the Service was created to N17.4 billion in 2016.

The KWIRS boss explained that voluntary payment of taxes, hitherto problematic, from tax payers in the state would significantly improve in year 2017. Already, the agency has started the distribution of bills to those captured in the tax network based on information already collected from them.

Dr Awodun in an interaction with newsmen at a forum organised by the Service in collaboration with the state's Ministry of Information and Communications, added that the Agency recognises the effects of economic recession on Nigerians and would therefore want to tread softly on them, stressing that enforcement with a human face would come only when people fail to comply.

He said: "In as much as we want to collect tax for the government, we have to tread softly and we will continue to tread softly because the economy is not as friendly as we expected."

Awodun, however, urged tax payers to make themselves available for audit to avoid a situation whereby agents would have to resort to what he described as "use of best judgement", to determine what they would have to pay.

He further added that some states including Kogi, Bauchi, and Zamfara states have visited the state to study its revenue collection models with a view to implementing it their respective states, saying even Lagos where Kwara state copied its revenue tax collection model from "recently came down to us to learn how we have been able to successfully handle the informal sector, an area Lagos state is still battling with."

He, however, noted that the potential to collect more this year is high because of the level of awareness and information already gathered by the agency.