Segun Akanni, Toronto, Canada 
In Continuation of its enforcement exercise, Osun State Internal Revenue Service (OIRS) has sealed up keystone bank, Bank of Agric and Industrial as well as General Insurance Company.
This was made known by the Special Adviser to the governor on Tax and Revenue Matters, Mr. Jimoh Akano after the exercise.
According to Akano, the action was aims at giving a bite to the company’s non-compliance to ensure remittance of all the outstanding due to the State.
Akano, said all the affected company and banks were situated in Osogbo for not effecting the payment of outstanding unremitted withholding tax on interest which have become due and payable to the State Government in pursuant to the Back-Duty-Investigation Exercise duly conducted for the years 2012 to 2014.
In his own statement, the Acting Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, Osun Internal Revenue Service, Mr. Bicci Alli, said that the step taken to seal up the companies was in line with the provision of Section 104 of the personal Income Tax Act 2004 LFN (as amended in 2011) and will not be reopened for business until all full compliance is attained.
Alli, further explained that several meetings had been held with their representatives in the last three years in order to resolve the outstandings, however, all proved abortive.
He stressed further that, OIRS has intensified its efforts on advocacy, publicity and enlightenment programmes on the statutory obligations of the citizenry for voluntary compliance by paying their taxes promptly as prescribed in the Nigeria constitution and the applicable tax legislations.
“In spite of its efforts, some corporate organizations and individuals still engage in several violations. As a result of this, OIRS is set to begin enforcement of tax payment, prosecution of all tax defaulters in the State of Osun to ensure that the defaulters are made to face the full scale of the law”, Alli said.
“Personal Income Tax Act mandates all taxable institutions to file its annual tax return for the preceding year at the expiration of 90 days from the commencement of every year of assessment, a taxable person or corporate organizations who fails to file its returns with OIRS by the stipulated date is in breach of the provisions of the law”, Alli added.
Reported by Richard Akintade, Osogbo
