Grace Cofie
The Presidency has said there is no provision in the 2022 Finance Bill that states that banks will request the Tax Identification Number (TIN) before opening bank accounts for individuals and existing account holders before operating their banks.
This was said in a statement titled ‘No TIN requirement for Nigerians to operate bank accounts in Finance Bill 2022, says Presidency”.
According to the statement, there are no provision in the Finance Bill 2022, now before the National Assembly, forcing Nigerians to have a Tax ID number in order to operate a bank account.
Other issues which were the proposed main changes addressed in the statement were highlighted by the Presidency would be defended this week both at the Senate and House of Representatives.
It said, “Capital gains tax at the rate of five per cent to be applicable on disposal of shares in a Nigerian company worth N500m or more in any 12 consecutive months except where the proceed is reinvested in the shares of any Nigerian company within the same year of assessment. Partial re-investment will attract tax proportionately. Transfer of shares under the regulated Security Lending Transaction is exempted.
“Lottery and gaming business to be specifically taxable under CITA including betting, game of chance, promotional competition, gambling, wagering, video poker, roulette, craps, bingo, slot or gaming machines and the like.
“Companies engaged in petroleum operations including midstream and downstream operations will not be eligible for exemption on profits in respect of goods exported from Nigeria.
“Downstream companies were previously eligible under the old upstream and downstream classification.
“Federal Inland Revenue Service to be empowered to assess CIT on the turnover of a foreign digital company involved in transmitting, emitting, or receiving signals, sounds, messages, images or data of any kind including e-commerce, app stores, and online adverts.”
According to the presidency in the letter, proposed changes include the minimum tax rate from 0.5 per cent to 0.25 per cent of turnover and it is applicable to any two accounting periods between January 2019 and December 31, 2021.
It said, “Disputed tax assessment to be in abeyance until determination while undisputed tax assessment is to be paid within 30 days after service of the notice of assessment on the company except otherwise extended by the FIRS. Reference to provisional tax has been deleted in recognition of the well-established self-assessment tax regime.
“Withholding tax on interest earned from a unit trust to be treated as final tax. Only WHT on dividend is currently treated as final tax for local companies.
“The deployment of technology to automate tax administration including assessment and information gathering by FIRS to now include third party technology (previously only proprietary technology may be deployed). A penalty of N50,000 to be applicable where a company fails to grant access to FIRS in addition to N25,000 for each day the failure continues.”
