By Matthew Tabe
A Director of the Federal Inland Revenue Service(FIRS), Dr. Wisdom Oshadare, has disclosed that most of the Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) operating in Nigeria are ignorant of their tax obligations.
The Director made the disclosure during an Exclusive chat with Quest Times shortly after a training workshop Organised for CSOs in partnership with WellTime in Abuja, on Friday.
He said: “What we are noticing is that most of the CSOs are not knowledgeable or they don’t know their tax obligations. There are a lot of misconceptions out there and they feel that they are even exempt from taxes completely and they are not expected to file their returns.
“That’s why we felt this awareness is necessary to train them by correcting this misconception so that they will be abreast of what they are expected to do; which voluntary compliance will improve and they will start paying their taxes.”
According to him, the programme is one of several organised by the FIRS to create awareness among the CSOs in order to let them know their tax obligations.
He said “the recent amendment of the Finance Act has made it compulsory for all the Non Governmental Organisations to be filing returns with FIRS.
“We felt it’s very necessary for us to educate them about our tax processes and for them to know their tax obligation, so that they can fulfill so as at when due.
Dr. Xashimba stressed that the expectation from the participants is for them to comply with the new tax laws, so that they are not forced before they can comply.