From Ifeoma Ejiofor
Civil Rights Concern (CRC) and partners last week held a meeting to review the assessment report of Anambra State Board of Internal Revenue (BIR) Grievance Redress Mechanism (GRM).
The meeting aimed at strengthening the grievance redress mechanism in the State Board of Internal Revenue held at the Conference Hall of BIR.
Speaking with journalists after the engagement, The Executive Director (ED) of CRC, Mr Okey Onyeka pointed out that the key officers of the State BIR were trained on updated Grievance Redress Mechanism (GRM) to tackle the challenges of many grievances in revenue collection.
The purpose of the training on GRM especially in tax revenue according to Mr Onyeka is to make it more user friendly and elicit more voluntary compliance in payment of tax by the citizens of the State.
“The objective of the assessment was to provide an evidence-based analysis of how effectively AIRS GRM functions in practice, identify strengths and gaps and propose practical recommendations for strengthening grievance handling in line with national tax reforms.
“It is also to support AIRS institutionalize a functional, responsive and sustainable GRM framework that enhances accountability, taxpayer confidence and voluntary tax compliance.
“The current practices of the State in GRM was assessed using a tool developed by a partner organisations Tax Justice & Governance Platform (TJ & GP) Sadiq M. Mustapha from TJ & GP Kano State who conducted the training.
“The discussions reviewed the scores on each assessment report such as payment channels, complaint redress channels, complaint addressing committee, availability of GRM Desk Officer, dedicated phone line for taxpayer complaints, complaint register for taxpayers, social media handles, tracking system for monitoring complaints from receipt to resolution, average response time for addressing taxpayer complaints among other indicators,” Mr Onyeka revealed.
He however pointed out that Anambra State performed very well in the assessment.
The meeting recommended, improved GRM in tax management after the exercise include: Institutionalizing GRM Governance Structures, develop and formalize GRM standard operating Procedures (SOPs) by consolidating existing practices, define clear timelines for each stage of grievance handling, Strengthen complaint tracking, documentation and archiving of complaints, using digital Tools to Support GRM Operations among others.
Mr Okey Onyeka said further, “The assessment revealed that many foundational elements of a GRM, are in use, it however highlighted key gaps that could drag increased effectiveness of the GRM system.
“To this extent the GRM assessment was a diagnostic tool and provided a roadmap for institutionalizing and strengthening the GRM process in the State tax administration.
“It is hoped that with sustained leadership commitment, targeted capacity building and structured implementation of the proposed reforms; AIRS effectiveness and efficiency in handling tax payer grievances will make tax payers respond voluntarily to discharge their obligations to the State in tax payment.”
The government revenue officers that attended the meeting cut across the various departmental units of the Anambra State Board of Internal Revenue.