FIRS, HMRC UK sign capacity building pact

The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and the United Kingdom’s His Royal Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) aimed at building the capacity of the two tax authorities.

According to a statement by the Special Assistant (Media & Communication) to the executive chairman of FIRS, Johannes Oluwatobi Wojuola, the agreement was signed Thursday in London.

The statement indicated that FIRS’s executive chairman, Muhammad Nami, signed for Nigeria while the director at HMRC, Jon Sherman, signed for the UK government.

Speaking after signing the MoU, Nami said the collaboration would better equip the service to improve tax revenue collection and in turn provide the government with the much-needed resources to cater for Nigerians.

According to him, it will also help build a data-centric tax authority and improve the Service’s collaboration and stakeholder relations.

“I am certain that this relationship would equip our officers with the skills of the 21st century taxman. Data is the new oil. Its collection, interpretation and consequent application for tax purposes has become crucial if the Service must be ahead of the taxpayer in the times we are in.

“With increased collaboration between the Service and tax authorities the world over – which is one of the cardinal pillars of this current management – meticulous and purposeful management, as well as strategic interpretation of the information we exchange between each other has become a fundamental element of inter-tax-authority relations,” he said.

On his part, the head of capacity building at the HMRC, David Yelowly, said, “The MoU between the Nigerian and UK revenue authorities would see the two countries collaborating on capacity building, particularly on issues surrounding country-by-country reporting standards, transfer pricing, and exchange of information, data, and audit in the oil and gas industry.”

In February this year, the FIRS signed a MoU with the Lagos State Inland Revenue Service (LIRS) for collaboration on joint tax audit, exchange of information and capacity building.