ASUU wants stiffer penalties for tax evaders

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has called for stiffer penalties for tax evaders in the country

The President of ASUU, Prof. Victor Osodeke, said this during a public hearing on Monitoring of Collection, Utilisation, and Other Associated Services Relating to Education Tax from 2011 to 2022.

The hearing was organised by the House of Representatives Committee on Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) in Abuja on Tuesday.

He attributed poor funding of tertiary institutions and incessant industrial strikes to waivers granted to banks and other private institutions in the country.

Osodeke berated banks over education tax evasion and underremittances.

He commended the committee for its stance to ensure that banks complied with it’s order on education tax.

Rep. Mariam Onuoha, the Chairman of the Committee, summoned the heads of some commercial banks over the alleged underremittance of education tax (EDT).

She asked them to appear with their tax consultants to reconcile the EDT computation.

The chairman alleged that there were discrepancies in the EDT remittances submitted by the banks to the FIRS over the years.

She added that what was computed by the bank's auditors was not tallied with tax consultants.

“The bone of contention has always been that the banks seem to be relying on a purported exemption order that clearly mentions the company income tax exemption order of 2011.

“We have asked the bank to produce an EDT exemption order, and they have failed to present it. We have equally presented it to them, but you cannot equate one exception with the other.

“That is because in law, we don’t summarily assume, because what is not mentioned is deemed excluded.”