Era of tax evasion over in Imo – new IIRS boss

The new Chairman of Imo Internal Revenue Service (IIRS), Mr Remigus Okoye, says the era of tax evasion in the state is over as professional mechanism to check the trend will soon be in place.

Okoye said this on Monday in Owerri during his maiden briefing of the staff of IIRS, after he received a handover note from his predecessor, Mr Emma Ononaku.

He said that the “average income earner” was the major culprit in tax default, noting that some business establishments were also in the habit of evading tax.

The chairman said tax evasion was responsible for the low Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), adding that the service under him would work hard to boost the state’s IGR.

“We need the cooperation of every staff member to achieve this goal; I will not tolerate any sabotage from any worker, so let’s cooperate and give government our best.

“We will go tough on habitual tax evaders and also create friendly environment for the business of our clients to thrive,” he said.

The tax administrator advised citizens of the state to be good ambassadors of Imo by regularly paying their taxes, adding that no state under the present economic realities would survive without strong IGR.

It was reported that the state’s monthly IGR has been revolving between N1 billion and N1. 2 billion since February.

Okoye who thanked Gov. Hope Uzodimma for giving him the opportunity to serve, noted that he would work hard to improve on the current IGR figure.