The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), has collected the sum of N1,123,377,654,135.14 in the first quarter of 2020, representing a 10.4% above its collection in the corresponding period of last year, totalling N1,046,889,787,060.27.
The Director of Communications and Liaison Department, Abdullahi Ismaila Ahmad, in a statement on Friday indicated that the collections in Q1, 2020 reflected a 568% increase in Capital Gains Tax from N96,408,740.90 in Q1 2019 to N643,935,849.06 in Q1 2020.
He reported that the Service recorded a 522% increase in collection from the NITDEF which collected the sum of N690,532,855.85 in Q1 2020, compared to N111,037,797.16 in Q1 2019
Also in the period under review, Gas Income Tax increased by 286% in Q1 2020, which amounted to N11,491,627,575.89 compared to N2,977,345,332.31 raked in in Q1 2019
Similarly, Company Income Tax (CIT) collected in Q1 2020 jumped 135% to N95,733,194,644.91 from the corresponding figure of N40,696,980,658.52 recorded in Q1 2019 just as Stamp Duty collection in Q1 2020 which stood at N4,602,037,497.81, represented a 36% increase over the N3,386,648,663.85 raked in Q1 2019.
In the education sector, the FIRS recorded an 81% increase in its collection of Education Tax, N13,102,045,604.74 in Q1 2020 compared to N7,229,644,397.68 in Q1 2019.
According to the agency, both NCS and Non-Import VAT also increased by 11% in Q12020 N63,296,684,819.79 and N261,245,617,218.98 respectively from the Q1 2019 figures of N57,008,866,617.53 and N236,030,481,054.83 in that order.
However, Petroleum Income Tax, Withholding Tax and Personal Income Tax all took a dip in the period under review, a development tax analysts attributed to fluctuations in the price of crude oil in the international market as well as the interregnum witnessed between passing the 2019 Finance Act into law and its coming to effect on February 1, 2020.
The improved revenue collections were attributed by the agency to the blockage of leaks in revenue and other reforms in the agency.
