Yemisi Izuora
The Lagos State Internal Revenue Service (LIRS) has advised all taxable persons, including self-employed, employees, professionals in Lagos State to file their individual annual tax returns for the 2021 Year of Assessment in accordance with the provisions of Section 41 of the Personal Income Tax Act LFN 2004 as amended.
A statement explained that individual tax returns are to be filed in accordance with the provisions of the tax law, section 41 (1) (3).
The legislations states that: “For each year of Assessment, a taxable person shall without notice or demand file a return of income in the prescribed form containing the required information with the tax authority of the State in which the taxable person is deemed to be a resident together with a true and correct statement in writing containing.
“A taxable person shall file with the relevant tax authority the returns as stipulated in this section within 90 days from the commencement of every year of Assessment (31st March).”
According to The Executive Chairman, LIRS, Mr. Ayodele Subair, “the statutory deadline to file Individual Tax Return is March 31, 2021 and is just two weeks away. Therefore, I urge all taxable residents in Lagos State to comply with the tax laws and file on time, to avoid penalties and interests which may accrue against defaulters.”
Given the safety protocols in Lagos State necessitated by the Covid-19 pandemic, LIRS charged all individual taxpayers residing in Lagos State to prepare and submit their Personal income tax returns via the electronic filing system module of the eTax platform, introduced to make the filing process seamless and timely.
“All relevant tax forms for the purpose of income tax returns can be downloaded from and submitted through the agency’s digital platform: https://etax.lirs.net. Taxpayers experiencing difficulties with the eTax platform may contact the specially designated officers at our tax stations or call our customer contact centre.
“The LIRS wishes to remind residents and businesses to continue to adhere to all covid-19 guidelines as stipulated by the relevant health authorities and the Lagos State government,” it added.