Mrs Ajibike Oshodi-Sholola, the Head, Distrain Unit of LIRS, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Friday that the companies were sealed off during a tax law enforcement exercise.
Oshodi-Sholola, who also led the enforcement team, said that the tax liabilities of the companies were for between 12 months and six years.
She said that eight companies were sealed off for N18.39 million evasion on November 25, while the other five companies were shut for N15.39 million on November 26.
She added that of the 16 firms expected to be sealed off within the two days exercise, two companies had relocated to an unknown destination, while one had been liquidated.
She said that the liabilities of both the liquidated company and the relocated one amounted to N2.61 million.
Oshodi-Sholola said that LIRS had sent tax liabilities demand notice and notice of intent to the affected companies to pay up as required by the Personal Income Tax Amendment Act of 2011.
"Each of the letters that we sent to the companies was received and acknowledged by either any of companies’ staff or the management of the firms. So, for any of the companies saying that LIRS did not notify them before coming to seal off their premises is not an excuse.Oshodi-Sholola noted that the enforcement would continue until tax payers imbibed the culture of voluntary tax compliance, adding that the removal of government seal was a criminal offence.
"Normally, firms are not even supposed to wait for anybody to remind them of their statutory obligation of paying tax to the government of the land where they operate," she said.
According to her, the companies that are affected by the last month tax law enforcement included hotels, environment management, pharmaceutical, recruitment and real estate firms.
Credit: Nigerian Tribune
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