Tax liabilities: FIRS shuts hotel, varsity Micro Finance Bank

The Federal Inland Revenue Service continued its nationwide tax enforcement exercise on Thursday, shutting Mirage Hotel in Calabar, the capital of Cross River State.
Upon its arrival at the hotel, the FIRS team discovered the hotel had stopped operating.
Anita Erinne, the leader of the FIRS enforcement team, said the hotel management owed N13,672,901.00 of unremitted Value Added Tax.
Also sealed was the Cross River State University of Science and Technology Micro Finance Bank over a similar tax liability.
Erinne said the micro finance bank owed VAT in arrears of N11 million from 2009 to 2012.
While pleading for leniency, Morris Ekpenyong, the Managing Director of the bank, claimed the Central Bank of Nigeria had granted the organisation a waiver on the particular tax debt.
Ekpenyong added the micro finance bank had demonstrated sincerity by earlier paying N2 million out of its tax debt.
He said the payment was done after the bank allegedly negotiated with the FIRS.