AN APPRAISAL OF THE IMPACT OF PAYE ADMINISTRATION ON INTERNAL REVENUE GENERATION

Introduction

1.1 Background to the Study

With the increasing focus on the good corporate governance and emphasis on revenue generation by the government, it is more critical now than ever to comply fully with the law including ensuring that tax filling and payment deadline are met.

This assertion should not be overemphasized when considering a great deal of concerned show by the Board of Internal Revenue when it comes to personal income tax such as PAYE in Nigeria today.

PAYE , being an acronym for Pay As You Earn, it is simply a method collecting personal income tax from employees salaries and wages through deduction at sources by an employer as provided by relevant section of Personal Income Tax Act2011(vanquard 2012) it means for raising revenue in order to finance public expenditures such as building of governments state house, construction roads and other form of amenities. Considering this, it is that PAYE must have yield huge amount of revenues to the government, but transparency is one big question in the manner and ways PAYE is remitted because a number of loopholes exist as to due date of remitting PAYE and the charges made on the level of income from one ministry to another (under payment and over payment)

Therefore, this study is on the appraisal of the impact of PAYE administration and revenue generation in kebbi state with implication for transparent tax administration a case study of Kebbi State Board of Internal Revenue, this study embark on with a view to analytically present the tax mechanism in place especially as it relate to PAYE, the challenges there in and also make recommendation at the end.

1.2 Statement of the Research Problems

This research aimed at appraising the impact of Pay As You Earn PAYE system of revenue generation with special reference to kebbi state

For many years the issue of revenue generation whch is one of the income yielding venture have been one aspect of debating thus a large sum of money is being realized.

Despite the important and effect of Pay As You Earn PAYE system of revenue generation in Kebbi with the sole aim of development of the state. The practices which has been widely used in the state is bedeviled with the problems of

Underpayment and over payment of tax by an employee is a serious problem facing Kebbi State Board of Internal Revenue. An overpayment occur when you have paid more tax than you were liable to pay, which constitute serious problem to the Board.

Another problem bedeviling the PAYE administration in Kebbi State Board of Internal Revenue could be lack of in build process of complain and redress, in Kebbi State Board of Internal Revenue there is no appropriate medium of complain mechanism if an employees encounter error in the payment system.

Another problem that is encounter by the Kebbi State Board of Internal Revenue could be lack of transparency in the administration of PAYE, lack of accurate number of employees under the tax administration and the amount or sum generated, this problem is as a result of lack of adequate supervision and accountability of the tax administration.

1.3 Research Question

1. How can an employee avoid the inherent problem of overpayment?
2. What best complain or redress mechanism should be in place to address employee dissatisfaction?
3. To what extent will transparency in the PAYE tax administration enhance the revenue base of the state?

1.4 Objectives of the Study

1. To determine the possible solution to the inherent problems of paying too much or too little by employee and tax authority respectively.
2. To examine the extent to which transparency in the PAYE tax administration will enhance the revenue base of the state.
3. To ascertain the most appropriate medium for complain and redressing the problem of under and over payment of PAYE.

1.5 Research Hypotheses

1. That the employee can avoid the inherent problems of paying too much or too little by bridge the gap of payment between the employees and tax authority.
2. That in build systemic PAYE redress mechanism should be in place to address employee dissatisfaction.
3. That adoption transparency in the PAYE tax administration will enhance the revenue base of the state.

1.6 Significance of the Study

This research work is of great significant not only to the Board of Internal Revenue Kebbi State but also to other similar Boards in Nigeria as it will be of great aid to theoretical and policy formulation framework of tax administration especially PAYE system of internal revenue generation of the state. It will also richly benefit the revenue sources analysis of the authority to discover how best it can effectively discharge it duties.

In general, this work will provide the needed knowledge about the revenue generation machinery so as to erase or minimize any possibility of ignorance on the part of the employees and correct in appropriate computation on the part of the PAYE administration.

The study should be significant to Kebbi state Internal Revenue services and its staff in particular to effectively carryout an error free PAYE administration.

1.7 Scope and Limitation

The scope of the researcher is essentially on appraisal of the impact of PAYE administration on Internal Revenue generation in Kebbi State a case study of Kebbi State Board of Internal revenue.

In the process of carrying out a research work like this, there are some constraints faced by the researcher, first and foremost is finance, the meager resources of fund cannot all go for this purpose and extra income is no longer forth coming. It is also important to note that the researcher is required to complete the study within a very few months while he is also engage in many academic routines.

Another important limitation is the inability to obtain some important document from the Kebbi State Board of Internal Revenue and lastly, inadequate access to relevant journals and magazines that will help in this research effort was also encounter of.

1.8 Definition of Terms

For the purpose of this work, the following terms are to be understood in the sense in which we defined them.

Tax:

(From the Latin Taxo means estimate) is to impose a financial charge or other levy impose on a tax payer (individual or legal entity) by a state or the functional equivalent of a state such that failure to pay is punishable by law. Tax may be define as a peculiar burden laid upon individual or proper owners to support the government . a tax is not voluntary or donation but an enforce contribution exacted pursuant to legislative authority.

Tax Payer:

Is a person who is subjected to or liable to tax. It can also be seen as any person or organization require by law to pay a tax on governmental authority. The word person here refers to both individual and corporation.

Revenue generation:

This refers to all monetary receipts accruing to the local government from both tax and non tax sources (NDAN2007;22) it connotes the totality of money available to state for effective execution of their obligation to its citizens according to Denga (2008), it is the nominal income of government receivable during the period of financial year and any sum of money received by the government other than every pay operation such as grant, subvention, and sell of property etc

Pay As You Earn (PAYE):

Is withholding tax on income payment to employees, amount withheld are treated as advance payment of tax due. PAYE may also include withholding the employee portion of insurance contributions or similar social benefit taxes. PAYE is deducted from each pay check by the employer and must be remitted promptly to government

Personal Income Tax:

The legal basis for this tax is found in the provisions of the personal Income Tax Decree (now act) 104 of 1993

Every tax payer in Nigeria is liable to pay tax on the aggregate amount of his income whether derived from within or outside Nigeria, the salaries, wages, fees allowance and other gains or benefit given or granted to an employee are chargeable to tax.

Director Employer:

The person or organization directed by tax authority on prescribe form to operate on the emolument of his employee

Tax Incidence:

Tax incidence is about who pay or bear the final tax burden.

Tax Avoidance:

Tax avoidance is a practice of using legal means to pay the least amount of tax possible. This is different from tax evasion which is the practice of using illegal methods to avoid paying tax.

Revenue:

Revenue may refers to business income in general or it may be refers to the amount in monetary unit received during a period of time.

Administration:

This include planning, organizing, staffing, leading directing and controlling and organizing to accomplish set goal.

Free Pay Allowance:

Employees attainment under the personal income tax such as children allowance.

Total Pay:

Is the sum of all remuneration period mounding allowance, commission payable to employees during any all allowances, bonuses, acting

Monthly remittance:

Is the total tax collected collected during the month from pay of employees which is payable to the Board of Internal Revenue.

1.9 Scheme of Chapters (Chapterisation)

This research work is generally categorized in to five chapters, chapter one which is the introductory, consist of the background of the study, statement of the research problem, research question ;aims and objectives of the study, research hypotheses, significance of the study, scope and limitations and scheme of chapters (chapterisation)

The chapter two which is the literature review and theoretical framework consist of literature related to the study which comprises of the introduction to the chapter, conceptual definition of PAYE, Administration of PAYE, and lastly the summary of the chapters.

The chapter three of this work is the methodology; it is devoted to the introduction to the chapter, research design, historical background to the study, population and sample size of the study, research sampling techniques, sources of data method of data collection and method of testing its hypotheses

The chapter four which is the presentation of data and analysis comprises of the introduction to the chapter, testing of hypothesis and summary of findings.

Conclusively chapter five which is the final title the summary, conclusion and recommendation; its consist of the summary of work recommendation and lastly conclusion.