N50 Billion unpaid Tax : Rivers Revenue Agency seals NDDC office

The Corporate Headquarters of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, has been sealed off by the Rivers State Internal Revenue Service,  over unpaid withholding tax allegedly running into N50bn.

Disclosing the reason for the seal off, on Wednesday, in Port Harcourt, the State capital, the Chairman of RIRS, Adoage Norteh, said the decision was reached when  the commission allegedly refused to make their (NDDC) financial records available for audit.

His words, “The place is sealed off; we got a court order to seal off the place. We had gone to court to say that we are frustrated by the antics of NDDC. They had assessed themselves last year and admitted that they were indebted to the tune of N671m, but they did not pay.

“When we now seal the office (last year), they then paid. We told them that we are going to audit their books, but since last year to this time, they (NDDC) has refused to allow us have access to its books.

“The N50bn that is being talked about is our best of judgement; that is the amount we assessed because they refused to open their books. That they did not object to it means that it is the amount they owe. If they have nothing to hide, why would they not show us their records; for many years, these people have refused to open their books.

“We are talking with them now; they are asking that we should come and do the audit now and that whatever we come up with, they will pay. I am reluctant because we have gone past that process; we have got a court order.

“We would not have gone to court if they had done the needful. But if they say it is not N50bn, how much do they owe? We are not interested in sentiments, we are interested in the records,” Norteh said.

The Commission’s Director of Corporate Affairs, Charles Odili, in a statement issued on Tuesday, insisted  that it had not defaulted in meeting its tax obligation to the RIRS.

The statement reads: “It is rather curious that the RIRS would rush to seal the gates of the Commission, disrupting activities at its headquarters, without any form of notification.

“We have had cause to discuss our tax obligations with officials of the RIRS in the past and all the grey areas were resolved amicably. It is, therefore, an act of bad faith for the revenue agency to begin to take actions that impugn on the reputation of an interventionist agency that is serving the people of the Niger Delta region.

“For the avoidance of doubt, the Commission has as recently as January this year settled its outstanding tax obligations to the RIRS. We have cleared all withholding tax on enterprises and Pay as You Earn up to March 2019, including arrears.

“If there is any other issue of outstanding tax obligation (underpayment), it will only come up after reconciliation. Until then, we cannot establish or determine under payment or overpayment. And our books are open for audit or reconciliation.

“We can under the circumstances safely say that the RIRS came to seal off our premises without due process. As the notice of non-compliance was neither issued nor served on NDDC before the RIRS action.”