The Gombe State Internal Revenue Service has arrested several persons allegedly involved in the illegal collection of taxes from motorists and haulage operators across the state, with some of the suspects already taken to court.
The IRS Chairman, Aisha Adamu, on Thursday disclosed this in an interview with our correspondent, warning transporters and other business owners against paying taxes or levies to individuals who accost them on the highway.
Adamu said the collection of haulage taxes at roadblocks had been abolished, stressing that any person collecting such payments on the highway was acting illegally.
She said the development was part of the ongoing tax reform aimed at eliminating multiple taxation, harassment of transporters and illegal revenue collection, which she said had contributed to the rising cost of goods and services.
“The collection of taxes on the highway is totally abolished. No one is allowed it is illegal to mount any roadblock on any highway to collect taxes from heavy trucks or any other person,” Adamu said.
She urged transporters operating in and out of Gombe State to refuse payments to unauthorised individuals, saying approved taxes could be paid online or to properly identified IRS personnel.
“I would like to call on all transporters and business people in Gombe to note this: they should not pay any individual on the road their haulage taxes.
“Rather, they can pay online, or they should pay to designated IRS staff who are well-kitted and have offices and identifiable means,” she said.
According to the IRS chairman, the state government introduced the single haulage system to reduce the number of points at which transporters are required to make payments and prevent unnecessary disruption of the movement of goods.
She explained that haulage charges were determined by the size or tonnage of the truck, adding that the highest approved levy was N12,800 for a 30-tonne truck.
“The highest is just N12,800 for the 30-ton truck. The size of the truck determines the amount,” she said.
Adamu said the government was particularly concerned about illegal collections along highways because of their impact on the prices of goods transported from one part of the country to another.
“Because of the issues transporters have been facing transporting goods from one place to the other, the activities of the non-tax actors have led to inflation of goods and services across the nation.
“When you try to transport a truck of cereals from Gombe to Lagos, you might end up paying millions on the way before it gets to Lagos,” she stated.
She said the tax reform was designed to eliminate such illegal payments and ensure that transporters were not repeatedly stopped and forced to pay different levies during their journeys.
“You’re only expected to pay at the point of loading or offloading. And with the single haulage system, you even pay the loading and the offloading at the same point, so that no one disturbs your activity while you’re transporting your goods and services,” she added.
The IRS boss also disclosed that the agency had stopped using vendors and agents to collect taxes, saying only authorised personnel were now permitted to collect revenue on behalf of the service.
“That’s why we’re trying to use this medium to reach out to people and to warn them that we no longer use vendors or agents to collect taxes in Gombe,” Adamu said.
She added that legitimate IRS officials could be identified through their official jackets, identity cards and tax collection gadgets.
“Only our staff have been mandated to do that, and our staff are identifiable by their jackets or their ID card or their gadget they use in tax collection,” she said.
Adamu disclosed that the IRS had arrested “a lot” of persons allegedly involved in the illegal collection of taxes, adding that some had been prosecuted while others remained under investigation.
“For those unscrupulous elements in the society or agents that have been illegally collecting fake taxes, we’ve arrested a lot of them and we’ve taken some of them to the court, while others are still being investigated by the police,” she stated.
She explained that the IRS works with security agencies to arrest and prosecute individuals found collecting fake taxes or impersonating authorised revenue officials.
“We have a very good collaborative working relationship with the security agents. So whenever we have such kind of misconduct, we take them directly to the police or the civil defence because they have the powers to prosecute,” she said.
The IRS chairman also explained that some of the levies collected from commercial vehicle operators were aimed at ensuring that vehicles operating in the state were properly registered and traceable for security purposes.
She said commercial motorcycles pay N15 daily, while other commercial vehicles pay N100 daily.
“I want to call on the good people of Gombe State to understand that, majorly, why we collect that levy or tax is, one, to ensure that all vehicles are secured and registered. So it has to do with security,” Adamu said.
She described the charges as relatively small compared with the infrastructure and other services enjoyed by road users.
“And then the levy, which is very insignificant, they pay only N15 a day for motorcycles and N100 for other commercial vehicles,” she added.
On the role of the tax tribunal in dealing with tax offenders, Adamu clarified that the tribunal was not established to prosecute people who commit tax-related offences.
She described it as an independent body responsible for resolving disputes between taxpayers and the revenue service.
“The tribunal is an independent body whereby we take issues we have with taxpayers, and the taxpayers also report us to the tribunal,” she explained.
Adamu said the tribunal remained fully functional and continued to provide a platform for the resolution of disputes between taxpayers and the revenue service.