FIRS, Customs generate N12.7trn revenue in 2022
Revenue collection by two key agencies of the Federal Government (FG), the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), rose to N12.7 trillion in 2022 representing a 46.8 percent increase from N8.7 trillion collected in 2021.
Data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed that the agencies, including Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), formerly Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), received 2.6 percent of the total revenue collected (N462.81 billion), as the cost of collection during the period.
This represents a 29.6 per cent Year-on-Year (YoY) increase compared to N329.34bn (3.81 per cent of 2021 total revenue) withdrawn by the agencies in 2021 as cost of collection.
The agencies help the government in collection of revenue from different sources, including Value Added Tax (VAT), oil revenue, and Company Income Tax (CIT), among other revenues.
Breakdown showed that while the FIRS collected N10.1 trillion in revenue in 2022 while it received N200.16 billion, representing two per cent of total generation as the cost of collection.
The Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), which followed with N2.60 trillion revenue generation, withdrew N128.64 billion (5 per cent) as cost of collection, while NUPRC, with no available data of its revenue collection on its website, received the least at N98.01 billion. This represents a 17.4 per cent rise compared to N83.51 billion received by the agency as collection in 2021.
Recall that in a bid to raise revenue collection, the federal government had introduced certain amendments in the Finance Act 2022. Under the Finance Act, digital assets, including cryptocurrency, would be recognised as chargeable assets and gains accruing from the disposal of such digital assets are subject to capital gains tax at the rate of 10 per cent; increase in Tertiary Education Tax (TET) rate from 2.5 per cent to 3.0 per cent; increase in the corporate tax rate of companies engaged in gas flaring from 30 per cent to 50 per cent; a levy of 0.5 per cent was imposed on all eligible goods imported into Nigeria from outside Africa.
There was also the introduction of taxes on Non-Resident Companies (NRCs) with digital presence in Nigeria among others.
