130,000 Nigerians identified that have potential tax underpayments
The Federal Ministry of Finance’s data mining efforts – domiciled in what we call Project Lighthouse – have identified a new batch of more than 130,000 high net worth Nigerian individuals and companies that have potential tax underpayments.
The Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, stated this at a briefing.
“We have compiled this information in preparation for the closure of the Voluntary Assets and Income Declaration Scheme (@VAIDSNG), on March 31, 2018. We’ve collected the data from a number of sources including land registries of the Governments of Lagos, Kaduna, Kano & Ogun States as well as the Federal Capital Territory.
“We‘ve also been able to request and receive data from a number of nations including traditional tax havens. For the overseas data we‘ve used Exchange of Information protocols. Under these protocols, information relating to bank records & financial filings for tax purposes is obtained from tax havens like British Virgin Islands and Mauritius that are signatories to Info sharing agreements.
“I’d like to assure that the data coming from abroad will be used ONLY for taxation purposes in line with the protocols governing the exchange of information. Our only interest in the data is in raising tax revenues. There‘s no hidden agenda whatsoever on the use of the data.”
