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From Obinna Odogwu, Awka
The Executive Chairman, Anambra State Internal Revenue Service (AIRS), Mr Ikeazor Nnaemeka Okonkwo, has said that the service has intensified efforts to expand its tax base, streamline property assessments and enforce compliance to tax laws in order to boost the state’s revenue.
He said that the service was targeting one million registered and actively engaged taxpayers, while introducing more transparent property tax assessments and legal enforcement measures to improve compliance.
He said that the idea was to strengthen domestic revenue mobilisation and reduce reliance on external funding for public services.
Okonkwo, who stated this while briefing journalists at the Revenue House in Awka, pointed out that the establishment was making efforts to improve tax administration in the state.
He said that enforcement had commenced against taxpayers who failed to regularise their tax affairs despite previous notices and opportunities for voluntary compliance.
“Enforcement has already started. We have now compiled the list of people who have not complied, and we are working through the legal advice on how enforcement will be carried out,” he said.
He stressed, however, that the service would rely on lawful administrative and judicial procedures rather than coercive methods.
“We are not going to undertake violent enforcement. What we are doing is enforcing what the law says we should enforce. It will be clean, legal and supported by the law,” he said.
As part of the broader reforms, the service is reviewing property tax assessments to eliminate arbitrary charges, standardise rates and make payment procedures more transparent.
Director of Informal Services at AIRS, Dr Ndubuisi Achebe, said the revised property tax system involved enumerating properties, categorising them for assessment and assigning each property a unique identification number, alongside a separate assessment identification number.
According to him, the system enables property owners to identify their assessments and make payments through designated banks or the service’s online portal.
“We have streamlined the rates and made the assessment process more understandable. Property owners should know what they are paying and be confident that the money is going into government coffers”, Achebe said.
He said the ongoing enumeration exercise was concentrated in urban and semi-urban areas, with plans to extend coverage to rural communities as the programme progressed.
Achebe explained that the reform was intended to broaden the tax base rather than increase rates, noting that collecting moderate amounts from more eligible property owners could improve revenue generation while reducing inconsistencies in assessments.
He added that commercial properties, including plazas adjoining markets, were liable to property tax, while levies imposed on traders operating within markets were separate.
On enforcement relating to property tax, Achebe said the service had begun distributing revised assessment and demand notices, with the applicable law requiring a 30-day notice period before enforcement could begin.
He urged property owners who had not received their notices to visit any AIRS office with a photograph of their buildings and the relevant addresses to obtain the necessary documents.
The director said the agency preferred voluntary compliance because enforcement was costly, adding that its personnel were working to improve public awareness and address complaints about assessments.
On the wider tax compliance drive, Okonkwo disclosed that only about 10 per cent of approximately 500,000 individuals registered under the Anambra State Identification Number system filed annual tax returns for the 2025 tax year.
“If about 90 per cent of registered taxpayers have not filed their annual returns, that is a significant problem,” he said.
He said the service had deployed direct communication, media campaigns, churches, town unions, professional bodies and other organisations to educate residents about their tax obligations.
Okonkwo also said taxpayers who had received assessments, demand notices or best-of-judgment assessments could still seek to resolve genuine disputes, adding that the service was establishing an Alternative Dispute Resolution mechanism to consider objections.
He advised taxpayers who agreed with their assessments to pay, while those with legitimate objections should present them for review. Those who ignored notices without taking steps to regularise their affairs, he warned, could face enforcement.
The chairman said the service was working to expand the inherited database of about 500,000 individuals to one million actively engaged taxpayers, describing the expansion as central to improving the state’s revenue capacity.
He also emphasised that personal income tax should be based on income earned rather than business turnover, with assessments reflecting taxpayers’ actual earnings and supporting records.
“There is no situation where someone is expected to pay tax on income they did not make,” Okonkwo said.
He added that the exercise was intended to promote fairness and ensure that compliant taxpayers were not disadvantaged by the failure of others to meet their obligations.
“Nobody is being targeted vindictively. It is about fairness,” he said.
The reforms form part of wider efforts to strengthen tax administration at the subnational level, where improved compliance, transparent assessments and a broader revenue base can help governments finance infrastructure and essential services.
