No fewer than 40,000 millionaire tax defaulters will be hunted in 2019, the Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, has said.
This is with the intention of recovering the money that should have come into the coffers of the government through tax.
The Head of Communications and Servicom Department of FIRS, Mr. Wahab Gbadamosi, made this known on Thursday in Abuja in a statement he issued.
He said the disclosure was made when the Executive Chairman of the service, Mr. Tunde Fowler, hosted the Acting Inspector General of Police, (I-G) Adamu Mohammed.
Mohammed was on a courtesy visit.
He quoted Fowler as saying a similar exercise was conducted in 2018 and N23 billion recovered.
In 2018, he said, over 45, 000 millionaire tax evaders were indentified.
According to him, the tax defaulters had over N100 million as turnover in their accounts.
He however said that the success recorded in the recovery efforts would not have been possible without the support of the Nigeria Police Force.
He therefore thanked the police just as he called for more support.
His words: “Let me put on record that the Nigeria Police Force has been extremely helpful to FIRS. Without the Police, I doubt if the Service would have been able to achieve what we have achieved.
“2018 was a successful year. The FIRS collected a total of N5.320 trillion of tax revenue. This is the highest revenue collection in the history of the service.
“This is significant, because this collection was when oil prices oscillated between $50 and $70 per barrel.
“Oil price was at an average of $100 to $120 per barrel between 2012 when FIRS collected N5.07 trillion.
“Oil component of the N5.320 trillion is N2.467 trillion, which represents 46.38 per cent, while non-oil element of the collection is N2.852 trillion, which is equal to 53.62 per cent,” he explained.
Speaking at the occasion, the police boss, Mohammed, gave the assurance that the police would continue to give the necessary support.
He also called on other relevant stakeholders to give the needed support to FIRS.
