January 9, 2018

The Federal Government has ordered vendors of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to display their Tax Identification Numbers (TINs) on their invoices before payments are effected by the MDAs.

The Federal Government’s directive was handed down to the Accountant-General of the Federation, Alhaji Ahmed Idris on Tuesday in Abuja by the Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun

Adeosun said that the directive was due to the N100 billion discovered as tax revenue shortfall by contractors between 2012 and 2017.

Adeosun, in a memo entitled “Compliance with Tax Payments by Federal Government Vendors”, disclosed that persistent leakages in revenue remittances by vendors had been uncovered.

She said that the discovery was made by the Federal Government’s Project Lighthouse, a systemwide revenue intelligence data-warehouse.

The leakages, according to her, are due to lack of TIN, particularly on Value Added Tax (VAT), Withholding Tax (WHT) and other related inflows into the government coffers

“In order to address these lapses in the implementation of the 2017 Budget as well as boost the revenue accruable to the government, all MDAs should be directed to insist that invoices submitted by vendors for payments must clearly state the TIN.

“This is to enable us confirm tax compliance by relevant government vendors before payments are effected,’’ she said.

Adeosun said that the directive to the government vendors was in compliance with the provisions of both the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and Procurement Acts of 2007 respectively.

She said that the order would assist the government to block revenue leakages by the MDAs’ vendors.

The minister said that spot checks would be undertaken on MDAs to confirm compliance with the directive.