The Kwara state Internal Revenue Service (KWIRS) Wednesday said that it has realised a total sum of N9.84billion in the last three months as revenue collected for the second quarter of this year.
The amount covers the months of April in which N1.45billion was generated, N6.907billion in May and N1.76billion in June.
This was against the N6.29billion realised in total revenue for the first quarter of the year comprising of January, February and March.
Executive Chairman, KWIRS, Professor Muritala Awodun, who disclosed this at the quarterly media briefing of the service in conjunction with the state Ministry of Information and Communications, put the figures of the revenue generated in the last six months at N16.139billion.
Awodun described the revenue collected for the half year as the best and highest in terms of performance of the agency since it was established, adding that N34billion was the revenue projection of the service in the fiscal year.
Giving the breakdown of how the revenue was generated, the KWIRS boss said the agency recorded the feat from the major inflow of tax liability arrears owed by federal government agencies domiciled in the state to the tune of N7.4billion.
He noted that the service was able to collect N4.8billion from the total amount owed the state in May as a result of relentless pursuit in the last three years.
The KWIRS chairman said though the revenue generated in the last six months stood at 94 percent, it would require his agency to buckle up to meet the target for the year.
“You would all recall that we started the year with an approved 2019 budget of N34billion. And if you look at that, in terms of trying to divide it into two, that means our half year budget will be N17billion, and it is out of that N17billion that we have done N16.1billion. That is 94 percent performance more or less.
“But I need to throw more light on this because of the fact that this is a new government, and when figures are rolled out, there is a tendency for people to hold the government accountable for those figures.
“Yes, as much as possible, we want to be accountable and be explicit as much as possible. So, it is not all the revenue collected by the revenue service that is available as cash for the government to spend. The reason being that the way the revenue service is structured is such that some parastatals revenue is reinvest.
“What I mean by that is the fact that when those revenues are collected, they are kept in separate dedicated TSA (Treasury Single Account) account for those parastatals, because government will not want a situation where those parastatals will be starved of fund. That is why the total collection is divided into government spendable and retained earnings”, he said.
Denying that the service had had cause to increase tax, Awodun whose tenure expires September, said the service he led was looking at tax friendly Kwara where citizens would willingly pay their taxes without being forced to do so.
He stated that the KWIRS had also not stopped community impact programmes embedded in corporate responsibility of the organisation.
On succession, Awodun expressed confidence in the ability of any of his management team in running the affairs of the service, saying that they would not perform below him with the experience garnered over the years.
The KWIRS chairman, who also spoke on the fate of Kwara Infrastructural Development Fund (IF-K), a brainchild of the immediate past government used in funding key projects, said the service ceased contributing to the funding window even before the end of the last administration.
