By Adeyinka Adeniran
In its bid to ensure seamless revenue generation, Oyo state government has mandated all Ministries, Departments, Agencies, Parastatals, Local Government Councils, institutions of the government, or any government officials to henceforth not recognize, accept, or use a trade/professional license for official purpose without a valid tax clearance certificate of the holder of such Trade/Professional License.
The Executive Chairman, Oyo State Internal Revenue Service (OYIRS), Mr. Adebowale Awakan, disclosed this in a meeting with all the revenue generating MDAs of the government.
He noted that there has been a continuous violation of the provision of Section 85 of The Personal Income Tax Act, Cap P8 LFN 2004, (as amended), and Section 40(5)(a) of the Revenue Administration Law of Oyo State, 2015, (as amended), and the consequential loss of revenue to the government.
Mr. Awakan who commended the effort of the governor Seyi Makinde, who has not relented in fulfilling his promises to the people of the state despite the economic situation of the country, but willing to do even more in as much as the people are ready to cooperate with him by performing their civic duties of regular and prompt payment of their taxes to the government.
According to him, the continuous violation of the revenue laws and the consequential loss of revenue is what necessitated the meeting with all the revenue generating MDAs of the government, consequently the compulsory enforcement of the use of a valid Tax Clearance Certificate by them in their subsequent dealings with financial institutions, business owners, professional bodies, e.t.c.
He added that there was a publication to intimate the public of the development.
The Chairman therefore, called for maximum cooperation of all the MDAs as the board leverages on the services being rendered by them to the public to generate income for the government.
He concluded that the duty of the board is to monitor and coordinate the revenue generation of all MDAs. He added that tax payment has now been made easy and everyone can do it on their phone by downloading “Revenue Mobile” on playstore powered by ICMA and follow the steps.
