The Lagos State branch of the Shippers Association, on Thursday urged the Federal Government to extend the May 2013 deadline set for Tax Identification Number (TIN) registration.
Mr Jonathan Nicol, the General Secretary of the association, told newsmen in Lagos yesterday that extending the deadline would enable more shippers to key into the process.
The Lagos State branch of the Shippers Association, on Thursday urged the Federal Government to extend the May 2013 deadline set for Tax Identification Number (TIN) registration.
Mr Jonathan Nicol, the General Secretary of the association, told newsmen in Lagos yesterday that extending the deadline would enable more shippers to key into the process.
Nicol said that many shippers would not be able to meet up with the May 2013 deadline, noting that an extension was necessary because many stakeholders in the maritime industry had been queuing up at the offices of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to get a TIN card to no avail.
He said that the long processes of getting the TIN card had been affecting shipping procedures adding that no shipper would be able to transact any business without the TIN card.
According to him, “the Federal Government through the Nigeria Customs says importers must have a Tax Identification Number and a deadline has been issued.
“At the end of May, any company that doesn’t have the TIN would find it difficult to operate, to raise Form M and they will find it difficult to even import their goods.
“The shipping industry is huge; massive; it is not something that can be achieved within one year.
“It should be a continuous exercise. There is no way to be in a hurry. If you want to get regular data of shippers make it a continuous thing, so that any shipper who wants to go into that business can now first go to the Federal Inland Revenue to get the Tax Identification Number and then gradually begin to understand the system.
“As it is now, it is difficult for millions of importers to meet up with this TIN deadline and the implication would be very, very adverse on revenue for this country.
“And it will also make some importers to go to other countries.
“Nobody expected that they will give them a deadline that if you don’t have a TIN number you cannot do the business in the freight forwarding business.’’
Nicol stressed that the request for an extension was necessary because there were many new entrants into the business and that a single harsh law could force shippers off Nigerian ports.
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