LASG Closes 9 Hotels over N30.84 million Consumption Tax Fraud

The Lagos State Internal Revenue Service (LIRS) has shut nine hotels for failure to remit N30.84 million hotel occupancy and consumption taxes to the state government.

Ajibike Oshodi-Sholola, Head, Distraint Unit of LIRS, disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) after a state-wide tax law enforcement exercise in Lagos on Wednesday.

Oshodi-Sholola said that the tax liabilities of the affected hotels were for the period from 12 months to two years.

“The tax liabilities of the hotels are specifically for 2013 to 2014 tax audit year,” she said.

Oshodi-Sholola said that LIRS was currently focusing on hotels, saying that “the aim is to ensure that no hospitality firm owes taxes and full tax compliance is achieved”.

NAN reports that some managers of the affected hotels admitted their tax liabilities, but promised to pay the debts.

Oshodi-Sholola said that false addresses given by some organisations were posing challenges often encountered by the LIRS tax enforcement team.

“Large numbers of the addresses which some of the organisations submitted to LIRS are fake and unrealistic addresses that are not in existence anywhere in the state. The taxes of the companies with the unrealistic addresses will invariably affect and reduce government’s revenue and earnings from taxation. But any amount which LIRS audits for an organisation to pay as tax is contestable. So, companies should not because of fear of the amount the LIRS may give them be providing false addresses,” she said.