Annual Returns Filing: LIRS Threatens Taxpayers With Court Action

Eko Hot Blog reports that the Lagos State Internal Revenue Service (LIRS) says taxpayers who refuse to file their annual returns by the deadline will face court action.

The LIRS Chairman, Ayodele Subair, made the threat on Wednesday when he was a guest on Arise TV.

The service had set the deadline for the filing of annual returns for March 31.

Speaking on Wednesday, Subair said there is no room for flexibility on the deadline for the tax returns filing, insisting it is firm and must be complied with.

“The deadline is there. It is sacrosanct. You are not supposed to vary that, you are supposed to comply and apply,” the LIRS chairman said.

“Now, if the revenue gives an extension, that is a different thing, but really, by law, we are not even supposed to give that extension. We must have real fundamental reasons for us to give an extension because it is a federal law, not a state law.

“If you fail to file, we will take you to court and upon conviction, you pay a fine of 50,000 naira. Also, we can go the other route and do a best of judgment, assessment on you.

“Usually, the best of judgment is based on probably what you filed the previous year and when we issue that assessment notice against you, you have 30 days to respond, to pay and if you don’t pay, we can go to law court.

“We don’t need to go into an open court. All we need to do is go into the chambers of the judge and once we lay all the records before him, we are likely to get that judgment against you. So, it’s not a good thing to be on the wrong side of the law.”

Subair said all types of individual income must be reported — including income from employment, trade, vocation or profession, as well as global income from sources both within and outside the country.

“Well, all residents of Lagos are supposed to report all income, whether it is local income earned or foreign income earned,” he said.

“You are supposed to report your global income. So basically, whether you are in employment or you are in trade or vocation or some profession, you are expected to aggregate all the incomes from all the sources and report it truthfully.”

The LIRS said the directive includes self-employed individuals and employees under the pay-as-you-earn (PAYE) scheme.

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