By ZUBAIRU IDRIS

Katsina State Government says it will close all bank accounts of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) on Feb. 14, as it begins the implementation of Treasury Single Account (TSA).

The Executive Chairman of the state Internal Revenue Service, Alhaji Isiyaku Muhammad, disclosed this in an interview with newsmen on Wednesday in Katsina.

The Chairman said that the TSA will be hosted by Polaris Bank while other linked accounts would be at other banks with effect from Feb. 15.

He further explained that the government had designed an application called “Katsina State Integrated Revenue Management System”, to ensure effective implementation of the new policy.

Muhammad said, “Codification Law of Katsina State, gives power to Katsina State Internal Revenue Service to harmonise the collection of all taxes, both state and local governments.

“Whatever is coming, either a tax or none tax revenue will come through the gateway of that system.

“It will then pass through the bridge called pay direct, then to the TSA and then the Consolidated Revenue Account.

“But, local governments funds, will only pass through TSA, for record purpose,” he said.

According to him, the state committee on TSA, which he chaired, had earlier studied the formats being used in states like Kaduna and Kano, in order to avoid problems during implementation.

“Initially, we intended to start in January 2024, but we deferred it to Feb. 15, 2024.

“The reason was to address all possible challenges and avoid problems of delay in payment of January salaries,” he added.

Muhammad further revealed that the TSA committee had met with local government chairmen and intimated them about the codification law of the state.

The law, he said, has directed each local government to have a revenue collection committee, for prudence and accountability.

He said that vendors would be engaged and would use POS machines to collect revenue.

“We have already discussed with Access Bank to supply us POS at all the collection centres.

“There will no longer be cash revenue collection. Anybody who collect cash will be dismissed and handed over to the police.

“In areas where there are no network coverage, the POS machines will key in transaction and whenever the network is available it will offload it,” he said.

He therefore, urged people of the state to pay their taxes promptly through the new format to enable government provide them with more dividends of democracy. (NAN)

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