The Federal Inland Revenue Service says it generated N1.97tr in revenue in the first half of this year.
Its Acting Executive Chairman, Mr Sunday Ogungbesan, made the disclosure at in Lagos on Friday.
He said the figure represented 98 per cent of the targeted revenue of N2.28tr between January and June 2015.
Ogungbesan said the Federal Government gave FIRS a revenue target of N4.57tr for the whole of 2015.
He believed Nigeria had the potential to generate more tax revenue if there was a better tax administration in the country.
The FIRS boss added that his agency was just one of the 37 tax authorities in the country, noting that FIRS only administered tax at the federal level, while each state administered its own.
Ogungbesan called for more collaboration among all the tax authorities in the country.
He said while the FIRS had 6,900 workers across the country, tax authorities in the states could also strengthen their workforce instead of depending on consultants.
He expressed regret that while there were 450,000 registered companies in the country, only about 125 were actually contributing taxes, saying the rest were portfolio businesses whose promoters were still probably in government services.
He pointed out that there was the need to review some complex laws inhibiting tax administration in the country.
The FIRS boss also called for a centralised tax administration system, stressing that his agency was already discussing the issue at the level of the Joint Tax Board.
He advocated a strong database for all tax payers as obtained in developed economies.
Ogungbesan said there were myriad of other problems bedeviling tax administration in the country, which included the large informal sector and false tax declarations.
(NAN)
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