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From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
Federal Capital Territory Internal Revenue Service (FCT-IRS) on Tuesday unveiled Taxporta, an upgraded digital tax management platform, and held a stakeholders’ session with Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to explain Nigeria’s 2025 tax reforms and smooth the transition to the new system.
Speaking at the National Assembly Library Trust Fund Complex in Abuja, FCT-IRS Executive Chairman Michael Ango said the portal is part of the agency’s digital transformation drive to make tax administration faster, safer and largely contactless.
“Of course, we have a digital agenda. Any serious institution, whether in the public or private sector, has to move with the times…In essence, this is a continuation of our own digital innovation process to ensure that we are able to service our taxpayers so they can do all the things they need to do in the comfort of their homes or offices, without having to leave and come to interact with us physically,” Ango said.
He described Taxporta as an end-to-end self-service platform that allows taxpayers to register, file returns, calculate liabilities, make payments, generate receipts and obtain tax clearance certificates without third-party assistance or visits to FCT-IRS offices. He said the system has been configured to reflect provisions of the 2025 tax laws so taxpayers only need to enter income figures while the portal applies allowances and computes taxes automatically.
“All the allowances provided under the law have been imputed into the system. Essentially, you are only going to have to put in your income, all of the rest of the work, things like tax clearance, payments of taxes, and all will be done on the portal,” he said.
Ango expressed confidence the platform would boost revenue collection and help the service surpass its annual targets. “Our focus, as always, is to ensure that we collect the maximum tax. If I tell you that we are focused on 400 billion or 500 billion, at the end of the year we may do 600 billion,” he said.
On enforcement, the chairman said the FCT-IRS will prioritise voluntary compliance, reserving penalties for recalcitrant taxpayers.
“The law has already provided timelines for penalties, but I don’t like to focus on penalties when I talk to taxpayers because it makes it seem as if you are just waiting to impose punitive measures. For us, the first line is always voluntary compliance. Even when people or government agencies are not able to comply, if there is a valid reason, we are always willing to give an extension of time. It is only when we discover that a taxpayer has become recalcitrant or is willfully refusing to comply that we can begin to talk about penalties,” Ango said.
He noted the FCT-IRS’s dual role as a federal agency and an arm of the Federal Capital Territory Administration, saying collaboration with MDAs is essential for effective revenue administration and for financing Abuja’s infrastructure needs. He highlighted the FCT’s heavy reliance on internally generated revenue (IGR), noting allocations from the federation account are limited.
“The reality is that the FCT, as an institution, is only funded, apart from the IGR, by 1% of the allocation to the Federal Government. So in a month in which the Federal Government gets, for example, 600 billion, the FCT will only get 6 billion Naira from the Federation Account,” he said.
Executive Secretary of the National Assembly Library Trust Fund, Henry Nwauna described the engagement as a strategic move to deepen collaboration and compliance.
“This engagement is strategic. It reflects commitment of government institutions to strengthening collaboration, deepen mutual understanding, and promote compliance with tax obligations in support of sustainable national development,” Nwauna said.
Tax Controller of the MDA Tax Office at FCT-IRS, Fatima Abubakar used the sensitisation to stress compliance with the Nigerian Tax Administration Act (NTAA) 2025 and related reforms, including registration, filing, assessments and issuance of tax clearance certificates. She warned that the tax authority is empowered to generate Taxpayer Identification Numbers (TINs) using National Identification Numbers (NINs) where necessary, and urged prompt remittance of employees’ deductions.
“All benefits in kind and cash are taxable because they are perks of the office, e.g 5% of the value of official car, and one hundred thousand naira fine for incomplete tax filing in the first month, and fifty thousand naira for subsequent months,” Abubakar said.
She also warned that MDAs must demand tax clearance certificates from vendors before awarding contracts or face penalties, including a possible five million naira fine.
Mohammed Ali, manager in charge of tax at the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC), praised the FCT-IRS for organising the session and said it would strengthen transparency and stakeholder confidence.
“I think it’s worthwhile. I think it’s very important, and we really appreciate the tax authority for organizing such an engagement. I think it will boost stakeholders’ confidence as well as that shows a lot of level of transparency in the discharge of their functions,” he said.
The FCT-IRS said the stakeholder engagement aimed to gather feedback from agency representatives, guard against multiple taxation, and ensure a seamless shift from the previous platform to Taxporta.
