Nigeria’s Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS) has been empowered to live connect its ATAS tax connector with taxpayers accounting systems. This technology would allow FIRS to review transactional data at the source ERP or accounting system to help detect missing Value Added Tax.
Check VAT Calc’s global live VAT invoice transaction and e-invoice reporting tracker to see where else real-time submissions of invoices is being implemented.
Automated Tax Administration System (ATAS)
FIRS now has the powers to implement ATAS s 30 April 2021.
ATAS enables the automation of tax investigations and audit and the collection of data. This would include access to cloud records, and outsourced accounting providers. Taxpayers would be given 30 days notice of an ATAS implementation. Refusal to allow the FIRS connect to the taxpayer’s system attracts a penalty of N25,000 in the first month and N10,000 for every subsequent month in which the default continues.
Practical questions around compatibility and integration between ATAS and taxpayer systems are not address.
