The Acting Cross River Chairman of the State Internal Revenue Service, Prince Edwin Okon, has urged State and Local government Revenue Staff to work in synergy to avoid duplication of functions.
Prince Okon made the call while addressing participants at a one day Cross River Joint State Revenue Committee (JOSREC) meeting with the theme: World Bank reporting format and Harmonization of multiple tax components held in Calabar.
He explained that such synergy will evolve policies that will promote transparency towards internal revenue generation so as to encourage tax payment to enable government provide social amenities to the people such as road maintenance, effective healthcare delivery system among others.
The IRS Chairman advised participants to consciously work with a mind set of bequeathing endearing legacies at the course of executng their duties for posterity sake," a lot needs to be done to motivate the people to pay their taxes willingly and make life easier for them,"
In a paper presentation, on 'Presumptive tax and the way forward,' Mr Patrick Ayandi, a retired Director of Planning Research and Statistics of the Cross River Internal Revenue Service, disclosed that the federal government set out guidelines for the implementation of Presumptive tax to encourage transparency and accountability in the generation of internal revenue.
He enumerated benefits of Presumptive Tax to include, provision of simplified options for tax compliance, spreading of tax burden on payers within stipulated time, discourages tax evasion while it accords the tax payer a sense of patriotism and responsibility.
Other paper presentations were on the Collation and Reporting of IGR for the Local Governments as well as presentation on the Harmonized Demands Notices for Local Governments
In a seven point communique jointly signed by the four member commnique drafting committee and presented by the Secretary, Mrs Patricia Njar, called for improvement of the Harmonized demand notices Platform.
It also requested the submission of revenue lines of DFSs and their Consultants for a proposed training while the Revenue Mobilization and fiscal Commission should be properly briefed on the reportage on JOSREC platforms to avoid discrepancies.
Participants were key officers of the State Internal Revenue Service, Directors of Finance at the local governments and Stakeholders.
By The Beagle News
