Tax: Court orders FCT revenue agency to seal off defaulting coys

A Magistrate Court sitting in Wuse Zone 2, Abuja, on Friday, ordered the Federal Capital Territory Internal Revenue Service (FCT-IRS) to seal off a company, Ifedi A.K. Nigeria Ltd., over allegations bordering on non-filing of annual returns.

The Magistrate, Janada Balami, gave the order after the lawyer for FCT-IRS, Michael Towolawi, moved the application to effect.

Towolawi told the court that the company had failed to file its annual returns from 2019 to 2023 in breach of Section 81 of the Personal Income Tax Act, LFN, 2004, as amended in 2011.

He said all efforts to make the company comply with the law proved abortive.

The lawyer, therefore, applied that the company be compelled to appear before the court to explain why it acted in breach of the law.

Balami, who held that the application by the agency against the company had merit, accordingly granted the same to seal No. 6, Rudolph Close, Off Katsina-Ala Street, Maitama, Abuja.

She consequently ordered the company, the sole defendant in the matter, to appear before the court on May 16.

The Director, Legal Services of the FCT-IRS, Festus Tsavar, told journalists after the proceeding that the service would move against companies that do not file their annual returns as provided by law.

“You know that we have a new minister in FCT who is doing a lot of projects, and that hinges on money.

“And of course, you are aware that FCT has come out of TSA.

“So it is the internally generated revenue that will allow the government of FCT to complete those projects completely within the required time,” he said.