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The Akwa Ibom State Board of Internal Revenue through its Chairman, Mr Okon Okon, today, July 21, 2020 briefed the media on the objectives, gains and challenges of the Board for the first part of the year 2020.

This event which occurred at the Central Business Area, Udo Udoma, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State held at the end of the first meeting of the Board for the year 2020 which the chairman noted was delayed due to the Covid-19 Pandemic.

Briefing the newsmen drawn from all sectors of the media, traditional and new, the Chairman gave very detailed report on the policies and engagements of the Board for the year 2020. The chairman emphasized on the State Government’s offer of tax incentives to specific sectors of the state economy as part of her Post Covid-19 economy recovery strategies. Some of these incentives as outlined by the Chairman include;

1. Extension of deadline for filing of individual income tax return for 2019 from March 31, 2020 to September 30, 2020.

2. Waiver of penalties charged for late payment/remittance of taxes for 2020.

3. Waiver of Interest Charged for late payment/remittance of tax for 2020.

4. Waiver of Business premises levy for small and Medium Enterprises (SME) with maximum annual turnover of Five Million Naira for 2020 tax year ending December 31, 2020.

Other incentives include suspension of Specific Road Levies including daily ticketing, Stickers, emblems and haulage fees for 2020 tax year and a grant of 25% discount on Personal Income Tax for traders in all the markets for 2020 tax year.

He thanked His Excellency, Mr Udom Emmanuel for bending back on what are statutory revenues and offering the tax incentives to allow Akwa Ibom Citizens some space to re-adjust to the realities of the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic on the economy.

The Chairman took time to satisfactorily attend to all questions and concerns raised by the press at the briefing which attracted an appreciation from media. He spoke extensively on the efforts by the state government to harmonise tax enforcement in the state and promised that in no time, issues of double taxation should be a thing of the past.

Communicating the appreciation at the end of the briefing, Mr Amos Etuk, Chairman, Nigerian Union of Journalist, Akwa Ibom State Chapter extolled the Chairman for his commitment to the task of generating revenue for Akwa Ibom State and very specially appreciated him for the innovation of briefing the press on the goings on in the tax revenue arena which he noted will help in properly informing the public on tax practices in the state.