Taxpayers in Lagos Issued Deadline to Pay Outstanding Tax or Face Punishment

- Self-employed and individuals under paid-employments in Lagos State have eight days left to pay their outstanding tax

- The state government says the deadline should be met by taxpayers who don't want to be punished

- Governor Sanwo-Olu is targeting N60.318 billion tax revenue monthly and plans to include more salary earners into the tax net

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Taxpayers in Lagos have until March 31, 2021, to pay their outstanding tax to the state government as Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu plans to meet its monthly tax revenue target of N60.318 billion.

Seyi Alade, the director of legal services for the Lagos state internal revenue service, said taxable persons shouldn't wait until a notice is sent or demand is made, NAN reported.

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He said self-employed and salary earners should meet the deadline as failure to file tax returns will attract punishment. Explaining what the law says about tax payment, Alade said:

“Section 41 of Personal Income Tax Act (PITA), provides that, a taxable person shall, without notice or demand, to file a return of their income in the prescribed form and containing the prescribed information with the tax authority of their State of residence.

"This return shall contain income earned from all sources in the year preceding the year of assessment and it must be filed not later than March 31 of every year.

“This return is expected to be filed by all individuals including those who are self-employed and submit their tax returns by way of direct assessments as well as those who are in paid employments under the Pay-As-You- Earn (PAYE) scheme.”

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Adding that:

“I am using this medium to encourage everyone that is yet to file to quickly do so before the deadline date because failure to file is a punishable offence.”

He said the taxpayers must keep to their obligation as the Lagos state government does its duty to provide a conducive environment for businesses to thrive in the state.

For the 2021 fiscal year, the administration of Sanwo-Olu is targeting N60.318 billion tax revenue monthly and has created a tax scheme known as 'Ibile' to increase the number of taxpayers in the state.

Meanwhile, Legit.ng had reported that naira depreciated against the dollar on Monday, March 23, 2021, when compared to what the forex market closed with last week Friday, March 19, 2021.

The forex turnover also declined as it fell forex generated below what was recorded on Friday.

Fakoyejo Olalekan is a Business and Financial Journalist with over three years of experience in covering finance and business activities within Nigeria and offshore. Prior to joining Legit.ng, he worked at Nairametrics where he wrote financial and investment analysis articles. Olalekan is a resourceful and result-driven journalist with a track record for conducting extensive research and interviews to produce articles that provide different perspectives to market activities.

Source: Legit.ng