Lagos To Sanction Firms Over Non-filing Of Tax Returns

Lagos state government is set to sanction companies who fail to file their tax returns to it on or before January 31, 2022.

With just 13 days to the end of the month of January, the state, through Lagos Internal Revenue Service (LIRS) urged businesses and employers to file their tax returns by the stipulated date to avoid sanctions.

A statement by the tax agency reminded businesses and employers of labour of their statutory obligation to file annual income tax returns pursuant to section 81 (2) of the Personal Income Tax Act (PITA) Cap P8 LFN 2004 (as amended).

The Act stipulates January 31st as the deadline for filing of annual income tax returns, failing which penalty accrues.

The executive chairman of Lagos State Internal Revenue Service, Mr. Ayodele Subair charged all businesses and employers of labour resident within Lagos State to file their annual income tax returns to avoid payment of penalties as well as other statutory sanctions.

The only available platform for filing of annual income tax returns in Lagos State is the LIRS e-Tax portal: https://etax.lirs.net.

The e-Tax portal, LIRS said,  is built for convenience of taxpayers as its easy, convenient and safe, even as all businesses and employers of labour are advised to use the e-Tax portal to file their returns.

Taxpayer ID of all employees is compulsory for the annual income tax returns to be successfully filed on the e-Tax portal. Therefore, all employees and taxable persons within the state are advised to generate a taxpayer ID (where applicable) and file their individual annual income tax returns on the e-Tax portal.

As part of the agency’s quest to ease compliance obligations for taxpayers, it has equally designated some staff at its various offices to assist taxpayers with using the e-Tax portal and other filing related issues.