By Bashir Hassan Abubakar
Towards improved Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) in Bauchi State, aimed at providing quality social services to citizens of the State, Tax officials of the State Revenue Service (IRS) are currently undergoing Three Days capacity building workshop on Tax Audit and Investigation.
The Workshop, holding at the conference hall of Hazibal Hotel Bauchi, is organised by the USAID Nigeria funded State Accountability, Transparency and Effectiveness (State2State) Activity with 26 Tax officials of the State IRS in attendance.
In a short welcome remarks before commencement of the Workshop Monday 11th March, 2024, State Team Lead (STL) of State2State Bauchi Field office, Rabi Ekele thanked the participants for attending the workshop.
Ekele informed the participants that the Three Days workshop will seek to bridge the capacity gap and lack of a tax audit manual, which according to her, will contribute to the achievement of State2State Objective 1, that focuses on Increased Efficiency of Sub National Government Operations in strengthening governance systems of partner States, related to the delivery of services in the key sectors of basic education, primary health care, and Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH).
“I hope at the end of the three days interactions with our resource persons, the objective of the workshop would be be achieved”, said Ekele.
In his opening remarks, Chairperson of the State IRS Alhaji Mu’azu Usman urged the participants to avail themselves to the workshop resource materials and also participate actively in the interactions and breakout sessions so that it would reflect in their performance.
The Chairperson, who wasrepresented by the Board’s Coordinating Director, Administration and Support Services, Engr. Gambo Abdullahi Shehu, thanked USAID Nigeria State2State for their untiring efforts in building the capacity of Bauchi State Government officials in the key sectors of health, basic education and WASH for optimal performance.
The Public Financial Management of State2State Bauchi field office, Isaac Otabor also informed the participants that the main objective of the workshop was to prepare a tax audit and investigation manual and train staff of IRS on tax audit and investigation for improved taxpayer compliance with tax laws.
Otabor stressed that the preparation of the manual and knowledge gained from the training will help the IRS to achieve and ensure that all applicable tax legislations are been complied with.
Other objectives the training will seek to achieve at the end of the training, according to the PFM Specialist was to ensure that the tax computations submitted to the authority by the taxpayer tally with the underlying records and also forestall taxable persons or businesses generating incomplete or inaccurate returns in support of the self-assessment.
Otabor further said that the workshop will equip participants with the knowledge to prevent a taxable person’s failure to render tax returns , thereby discouraging tax evasion.
Our correspondent reports that the three day workshop will cover areas that include: Background to Tax Audit and Investigation, Legal Framework for Tax Audit and Investigation, Mainstreaming Conflict Sensitivity, Gender and Social Inclusion in Tax Audit and Investigation.
Other areas of coverage would Tax Audit and Tax Investigation Processes, Pre-Audit Research and Audit Planning and Documentation