The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) says that Nigeria needs to work together to fight tax crimes better.
This information is from a statement on the UNDP website, seen by Newslodge.
The statement said: “Nigeria needs a coordinated approach to stop tax crimes because of overlapping regulatory systems. It’s important to get different agencies to work together by understanding each agency’s roles, laws, and willingness to cooperate.”
Corruption leads to tax crimes
The UNDP explains that tax crimes and corruption are very connected. People and companies doing corrupt activities don’t report their illegal money for taxes. Instead, they hide it by making their legal income look bigger.
The statement on the UNDP website said: “When we think of tax crimes and corruption, we often think they are separate. But they are really connected. People involved in corruption often don’t report their illegal earnings for taxes. They inflate legal income to clean their corrupt money.
“This means tax authorities, police, and financial agencies must work together to stop, find, and punish these crimes.”
What you should know
Newslodge had earlier reported that the Federal Government, with UNDP and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), launched the Tax Inspectors Without Borders for Criminal Investigation (TIWB-CI).
The UNDP said TIWB-CI will be implemented in three phases over 24-30 months. They will evaluate its success based on feedback from all involved, using a set evaluation framework.
Agencies involved include the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC), Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Tax Appeal Tribunal, Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), Nigeria Police Force (NPF), with the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) as the main point and secretariat.
The UNDP’s Tax for SDGs initiative helps developing countries to increase their resources and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with TIWB-CI being a key program.
After completing an Action Plan, the next phase of the TIWB-CI program will focus on implementing recommendations to improve tax authorities’ abilities, support better cooperation, and ensure a future where tax crimes are effectively stopped, found, and punished accordingly.
The statement noted that working with Nigerian crime agencies will help the country have fair and just tax practices, especially since Nigeria has a decentralized tax crime investigation system.
By stopping illegal financial flows, TIWB-CI aims to save government revenue, which can then be used for important areas of national development, especially the SDGs.
The House of Representatives recently moved forward with a bill to create the National Tax Crimes and Oversight Commission.
Rep. Nweke Uche (PDP-Rivers), who supports the bill, said that the new commission would fix issues in tax assessment, reporting, and payment.