There may no longer be a hidden place for those not willing to pay their taxes in the country as the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) said on Wednesday that it has inaugurated a National Intelligence Gathering System to gather data and track tax evaders and defaulters.

The FIRS Director, Communications and Liaison Department, Mr Abdullahi Ismaila made this known in a statement in Abuja on Wednesday.

Ismaila said the Executive Chairman, FIRS, Mr Muhammad Nami, revealed this during an inter-agency collaborative visit to the Chairman, Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Prof. Bolaji Owansanoye on Wednesday.

Nami explained that the new system would help to track tax evaders with a view to bringing them to book and make them pay their fair share of taxes to the country.

According to him, the intelligence gathering system is Information and Communication Technology (ICT)-based, being implemented in collaboration with the ICPC and other anti-corruption agencies as well as financial institutions.

He added that the system would help to tackle economy-based crimes, including money laundering.

“The ICPC is our critical stakeholder. We are improving our collaboration with the commission to track tax fraud and block all revenue leakages to ensure that we raise the revenue for the government to fund its budget.

“We need the data and intelligence which you have to help us track tax evaders and bring them into the tax net”.

He said that the Service was also restructuring and revamping its system to enable it surpass its 2020 revenue target.