The Lagos State Internal
Revenue Service (LIRS) has over the weekend closed six companies for failing to remit N17.7 million personal income taxes of their workers to the state government.
Mrs Folasade Coker-Afolayan, Head of the Distrain Unit of LIRS, disclosed this to the newsmen in Lagos.
Coker-Afolayan, who led the unit’s enforcement team, said the companies were closed during state-wide tax law enforcement over tax liabilities that ranged between one and three years.
The team leader said the enforcement would continue until taxpayers imbibed the culture of voluntary tax compliance, adding that tax evasion was a criminal act.
“Tax payment is a civic responsibility of everyone because that is the only way government can provide the necessary infrastructure for citizens and also improve their standard of living,” she said.
She advised companies to always remit personal taxes of their workers to government to avoid their premises being shut.
She said that the tax authority normally sent demand notices to defaulting companies to notify them of their tax liabilities.
“Similar notices have been sent to the affected companies in accordance with the Personal Income Tax Act amendment 2011.
“As to whether they received the notices or not, that is purely an internal matter of the companies,’’ she said.
Coker-Afolayan advised companies in the state to remit taxes promptly and should not wait till the government enforced tax laws.
She said LIRS would continue to sanction tax defaulters and advised companies to remit taxes promptly to avoid embarrassment.
Coker-Afolayan  stressed that it was a criminal to break government’s seals on sealed companies.
Some of the affected companies, which do not want their names in print, accused the state government of not giving them fair hearing.
They frowned at the manner the government was enforcing the tax laws.
The Tide reports that the LIRS sealed 44 companies in the last two months over non-remittance of N460.6 million personal income taxes of their workers.