Lagos seals 21 firms over tax default in February

The Lagos State Internal Revenue Service has said that it sealed 21 companies in February for defaulting in remitting N134 million personal income taxes of their workers.
The Head, Distrain Unit of the agency, Folasade Coker-Afolayan, said this on Sunday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Lagos.
Coker-Afolayan said that the taxes were for a period of one year to four years.
Coker-Afolayan reiterated that tax payment was a civic responsibility of the citizens and explained that government needed to provide infrastructure for the populace.
She said: “Tax is a major source of government revenue.
“It enables it to provide infrastructure and improve citizens’ standard of living.”
Coker-Afolayan said that the LIRS would continue to sanction tax defaulters.
She said that some employers of labour were fond of deducting workers’ taxes but would fail to remit the deductions into government’s coffers.
She promised that LIRS would continue to enforce tax laws to recover funds that belonged to the state government.
Coker-Afolayan advised companies to remit taxes promptly, to avoid embarrassment, adding that it was a criminal act to tamper with government’s seals on sealed companies.
NAN reports that the LIRS sealed 23 companies in January over non-remittance of N326.6 million personal income taxes of their workers.