Customs boss directs e-auction committee to resolve JTB tax number with FIRS

The Comptroller-General of Customs, retired Col. Hameed Ali, on Tuesday directed the e-auction committee to work with Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to resolve the issue of Joint Tax Board (JTB) Tax Identification Number (TIN).

Ali gave the directive in Abuja during an interactive session with the Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of 18 banks that joined the Customs e-auction platform.

Civil servants had complained of inability to access the platform which would enable them to benefit from the auction through the TIN required by the service.

He said civil servants were regular payers of tax, adding that their tax was usually deducted from their salary even before getting paid.

Ali said that there was need to resolve the issue of JTB TIN, mostly used by civil servants.

“About the TIN for civil servants, I am sorry to hear this because I am also a civil servant. The problem here is we have to talk to FIRS because this is an issue which is very serious.

“Because if you have no TIN you cannot participate on this platform. I will discuss the issue with my colleague in FIRS to see how this can be resolved.

“I think civil servants should also be given this opportunity because their tax is deducted at source.

“Others will go and pay tax when they want to, so we will raise the issue with them (FIRS) and see what can be done, “Ali said.

Ali, on July 3 in Abuja, inaugurated the platform aimed at giving all Nigerians equal opportunity to partake in bidding for seized vehicles and to increase Customs’ revenue.

Some of the civil servants said that they found it difficult to register on the portal with the TIN issued to them by Joint Tax Board.

Ali said that so far, 18 banks had launched into the platform at the on going exercise.

He said that as financial institutions, it was their responsibility to key into the initiative that would generate revenue for Federal Government because “we are all working for the benefit of the nation”.

He said that since the inception of the exercise, the bidding process had yielded over N25 million for the Federal Government.

“Eighteen banks have now hooked up to the Customs e-auction platform, remaining two more banks that are yet to be on the platform.

“I am surprised and I don’t know what to say. This is economic sabotage.

“The money you are going to collect is not coming to Customs; it is not coming to me as a person; it is going to the Federation Account that will be distributed to the three tiers of government,” he said.

He said that the same banks that participated in the exercise when it was run manually, distanced themselves from the ongoing automated auction system, leaving only Jaiz Bank as the sole participant.

According to him, with the participation of only one bank until yesterday when others joined, the process was cumbersome for the bidders, making the public accuse the service of favouring certain set of people.

He said that the same banks that collected duty for the NCS were reluctant to be part of the e-auction bidding process.

Ali said that “for us to initiate this process and the banks pull out calls for concern. One is that we want to get some funds from there. Two, it’s going to ease the process of what we do.

“It will also encourage transparency in what we do and the essence of what we do is to ensure that there is transparency in revenue collection.

The Customs boss said the banks took the e-auction aback but added that he was glad the managing directors of the 18 banks were present at the interactive session to bare their minds on the issues.

“I want to know if there are problems and what the problems are.

He said that fraudulent bidders had infiltrated the process by conniving with one another to circumvent the transparency and integrity of the exercise .

According to him, whoever cuts corner will be de-listed from the system.

The bank chiefs, however, took turns to explain their challenges with the bidding, which they stated as mostly technical issues.

The representative of Zenith Bank Plc said that the bank was still trying to work on its software to participate in the exercise while Guaranty Trust Bank said no bank would deliberately sabotage the process.

All the parties resolved that a technical committee comprising all their representatives would meet from time to time, to iron out the issues until the process was stabilised.