In order to settle their tax issue, the Plateau State Government and the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) have decided to remove it from the Tax Appeal Tribunal and form a four-person technical committee.
Paul Yakubu and Markus Chollom from the Plateau State Internal Revenue Service (PSIRS), Kwatmen Mattias, and Oche Samson from the NSITF are among the committee’s members. A week was allocated to the committee to complete the task.
In a statement released yesterday in Abuja, the general manager of corporate affairs for the NSITF, Nwachukwu Godson, said that the organisation had paid N62 million to the PSIRS to cover the accumulation of Pay As You Earn Tax (PAYE) owed by employees in its regional and branch offices.
Jim Waya, the executive chairman of PSIRS, commended the NSITF management for paying the state’s decade-long PAYE remittance arrears and agreed to the NSITF’s request for an out-of-court settlement.
He added that PSIRS would assist the NSITF in putting into effect the Employee Compensation Scheme (ECS) for the benefit of state workers.
He assured the NSITF of reparation and expressed displeasure that PSIRS had failed to make its one percent payments to employee compensation since enrolling in the programme in 2012.
Waya said: “This social security scheme is for the benefit of workers and their dependents in case of accident or death in the course of work. As the new Executive Chairman of PSIRS, my vision is to reposition it by aligning with programmes that promote our primary service to the state in terms of revenue generation as well as key into schemes such as the ECS which will uplift the welfare of our staff.”
He said that PSIRS would shortly begin paying out and review its standing under the Employee Compensation Scheme (ECS).
Martins Kuku, the NSITF’s regional manager, Jos, advocated for a cooperative relationship between the two agencies and stated that the NSITF would continue to fulfil its obligations to the Plateau State government and its workforce as a responsible social security company.
He asserted that it was past time for the tax dispute between the NSITF and the Plateau State Internal Revenue Service to be addressed.
In the spirit of peaceful and effective inter-agency cooperation, Kuku said: “At this time, I solicit the help of your organisation for the resolution of the continuing PAYE issue between the NSITF and the Plateau State Internal Revenue Service.
“The right course of action is for us to withdraw the dispute from the Tax Appeal Tribunal in order to reach an out-of-court settlement in accordance with the ILO Convention on social dialogue, especially in light of our new Managing Director, Barr. Maureen Allagoa’s exceptional commitment to her duties.
We now have a clean bill through August 2023 thanks to the new leadership of the Fund clearing the backlog of PAYE remittances totaling over N62,000,000.00 (sixty-two Million Naira) to the Plateau State Internal Revenue Service.
“A friendly relationship between our two organisations is advantageous to both parties since it facilitates the smooth discharge of our mandates and obligations to Nigerian residents. We have high hopes that the PSIRS, which you are chairing today, will reward the new NSITF leadership’s patriotism and commercial support for the employee compensation plan, which was abandoned in 2012 following registration.
According to Kuku, the NSITF has been providing claims and payouts to various enrollees in the state who correctly filed their claims with supporting documentation.
In order to convey the good news of employee compensation, which we are authorised to deliver to the doorstep of Nigerian workers, “we therefore cannot stop asking for the cooperation of government agencies,” he continued.
