The Presidency has, contrary to news making the rounds that the Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Tunde Fowler, has been queried, it said that the letter sent to him over tax collection variations between 2015 and 2018, was not a query per se.
A source in the Presidency, who preferred not to be named, said the letter was just for him to explain issues based on the information he supplied to the Presidency.
The source, who expressed surprise as to how the letter got to the press said, “We don’t know how the the letter got to the press. Maybe people who don’t like the Chairman inside the organisation leaked it.
“But it is true that the letter was indeed written on behalf of the President from the Chief of Staff.
“As you have seen from the content, it is not a query per se. It is just a request for explanation.
“The request is itself based on the information supplied to the Presidency by the Chairman himself. He was asked to come forward with the revenue collection over a ten year period.
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“From 2010 to 2014, the FIRS surpassed its targets for each year. From 2015 to date, the FIRS failed to meet its targets every year.
“So the idea of the letter is for him to explain the situation as raised by the records he presented. It’s for him to speak, not the Presidency.”
In a letter dated August 8 and signed by the Chief of Staff to the President, Mr. Abba Kyari, Fowler yo explain the variations in budgeted collections and the actual collections reported by the agency for the period in question.
Fowler’s query was conveyed under the heading, “Re: Budgeted FIRS Collections and Actual Collections”, with reference number SH/COS/08/5/A/301.
The letter was a response to an initial report on tax collections the FIRS’ boss forwarded to the President earlier on July 26. It had reference number, FIRS/EC/CWP/0249/027.
The Presidency directed Fowler to give reasons for variances by providing a “comprehensive” “variance analysis” for each tax item from 2015 to 2018.
The letter raised particular concerns over the collections for 2015 to 2017, describing them as “worse than what was collected between 2012 and 2014.”
The FIRS boss was further instructed to respond to the query latest by August 19.
