Tax: VAIDS writes defaulting wealthy Nigerians, insists March 31 deadline sacrosanct

The Voluntary Assets and Income Declaration Scheme (VAIDS) office in the Federal Ministry of Finance has identified thousands of tax defaulters across the country and has written to them, requesting compliance before the expiration of the declaration period on March 31.

According to the VAIDS office, the defaulters, mostly high net-worth individuals (HNIs), were identified through transaction, income and assets data obtained from a variety of sources. Following the identification process, the VAIDS office communicated with them via nudge letters to draw attention to their defective tax status.

The letters, revealed the VAIDS office, has elicited positive responses from recipients, with many of them visiting or phoning the VAIDS office to request for more information on declaration and compliance.

More letters are currently being sent out to other identified defaulters based on transaction data obtained from the Corporate Affairs, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Central Bank of Nigeria, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), state governments, Nigerian Customs Service, land registries, as well as payment platforms such as Government Integrated Financial and Management Information System and Remita in the case of tax-defaulting companies.