According to data collated from the National Bureau of Statistics, the 36 states in Nigeria and the Federal Capital Territory have earned N2.33 trillion from Pay As You Earn in three years.
PAYE is a form of personal income tax that refers to tax deducted directly from the wages and salaries of employees operating in the formal sector.
PAYE and self-assessment tax, another form of personal income tax, are collected by the state governments, according to the statistics office.
“All employers in Nigeria are responsible for deducting Pay As You Earn taxes from their employees’ earnings,” NBS said.
The highest PAYE collected in the years under review was N851.73bn in 2020, up from N809.32bn in 2019 and N669.22bn in 2018.
Breakdown by geopolitical region
The South-West earned N1.0tn from PAYE in the three years under review, making it the region with the highest PAYE earnings.
The South-South is the region with the second highest PAYE earnings, as it got N555.14bn from 2018 to 2020.
The North-Central earned N366.71bn from PAYE, making it the region with the third highest PAYE earnings.
The North-West (N172.95bn), South East (N134.53bn) and North East (N96.54bn) earned the lowest from PAYE in the period under review.
Breakdown by states
According to the Federal Inland Revenue Service, PIT is guided by the amended Personal Income Tax Act Cap P8 LFN 2004, and it is imposed on income of individuals, corporate sole or body of individuals, communities, families and trustees or executors of any settlement.
It said the tax ranges from seven percent to 24 percent, depending on the amount of chargeable income, adding that the due date for remittance of PAYE is the 10th day of every new month.
In the period under review, Lagos earned N788.29bn from PAYE; Rivers, N255.34bn; FCT, N210.08bn; and Delta, N136.12bn.
Ogun earned N87.61bn; Akwa Ibom, N65.64bn; Oyo, N50.89bn; Kano, N45.31bn; and Kaduna, N42.41bn, according to the NBS data.
From 2018 to 2020, Ondo generated N40.47bn from PAYE; Edo, N39.30bn; Enugu, N38.22bn; Bayelsa, N37.09bn; Imo, N32.08bn; Plateau, N31.55bn; Anambra, N30.68bn; Bauchi, N30.06bn; Kogi, N29.92bn; Benue, N28.77bn; Kwara, N25.03bn; and Osun, N24.32bn.
In the period under review, Nasarawa earned N23.23bn from PAYE; Katsina, N23.10bn; Cross River, N21.64bn; Sokoto, N20.85bn; Abia, N19.04bn; Niger, N18.13bn; Zamfara, N17.24bn; Borno, N16.90bn; and Adamawa, N15.29bn.
Ebonyi generated N14.51bn; Yobe, N14.39bn; Ekiti, N12.82bn; Kebbi, N12.29bn; Jigawa, N11.74bn; Taraba, N10.66bn, and Gombe, N9.23bn.