FIRS, EFCC to team up against tax defaulters

Mr. Zacch Adedeji, the Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS, on Wednesday urged for cooperation between the service and the Economic Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC.

He said that such cooperation would help in monitoring and reporting local and trans-border financial transactions of companies, multinationals, and high-net-worth individuals.

His media aide, Dare Adekanmbi, said that the FIRS Chairman made the urge when he visited the EFCC chairman, Mr. Ola Olukoyede, at his office in Abuja.

The FIRS chairman said that the partnership was important as socio-economic activities “are quickly moving from bricks-and-mortar to a digital and knowledge-driven economy.”

He said that FIRS mostly relies on third-party data, information, and intelligence from sister agencies like the EFCC to track transactions.

“We could also gain from joint training and capacity-building programmes to improve the skills of both FIRS and EFCC personnel in finding and dealing with financial crimes related to tax asion,” h he added.

In response, Olukoyede thanked the FIRS boss, promising that the existing relationship between the two financial agencies would continue.

He, however, asked for a review of the memorandum of understanding between the two agencies regarding operations in units such as the tax fraud section and joint tax force.