Finance Bill: TIN Will Become Compulsory Before Opening Bank Accounts

There may be stringent rules in the operation of bank accounts as Tax Identification Numbers, TIN, would soon become a compulsory requirement for opening of bank accounts across the country, if the Finance Bill 2021, an Executive Bill sent by President Muhammadu Buhari to the National Assembly is passed into law.

Ahmed Lawan, Nigerian Senate President, had earlier at plenary acknowledged receipt of the letter dated December 7, 2021 from President Buhari, seeking the approval of the Senate for passage of the bill into law.

The Senate leader and Senator representing Kebbi North Senatorial District, Senator Yahaya Abubakar Abdullahi, in his lead debate at the floor of the Senate on Wednesday on the Finance Bill, disclosed that banks will be required to request for Tax Identification Numbers, TIN, before opening bank accounts for any individual, while existing account holders must provide their TIN to continue operating their accounts.

In a related development, the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zaynab Ahmed, had while briefing State House Correspondents, after the Federal Executive Council, FEC, on Wednesday, announced the ratification of the Finance Bill, noting that the Finance Bill, which is already before the National Assembly is focused on Tax as well as reviewing and amending some eleven fiscal laws.

She explained that instead of proposing new taxes or increasing tax rates, the finance bill for the 2022 fiscal year focuses on closing loopholes and improving tax administration, adding that the proposed legislation falls under five broad categories.

The first one of course is domestic revenue mobilisation, and various measures are proposed in the bill to enhance revenue.

Tax Administration Reforms is the second broad category and this include provisions to support the FIRS on-going reforms to fully automate and deploy technology to enhance collections and encourage taxpayer compliance and there are several measures in that category.

The third one is the International Taxation Reforms. This provision empowers the FIRS to better assess non-resident companies to taxation by taxing profits derived from digital services and it include limited, excellent exemptions of case from shares disposals from capital gains tax to long-term equity investments, out to a close in tax loopholes for companies that are transmitted from the previous federal public tax regime to the world corporate tax and have recovered tax regime that is provided under the new petrol industry act of 2021.

The fourth broad objective of the Finance Bill is financial reform to enhance tax equity. Most of these provisions that have been made are to enhance on-going capital market reforms relating to securities lending transactions, real estate investment trusts, as well as the minimum taxation reductions that have been pioneered by the two previous Finance Bills.

The fifth principle is Critical Public Financial Management and Reform. This reform is designed to strengthen the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) tax administration and coordination role in relation to the collection of taxes, vis-a-vis the responsibilities of relevant law enforcement agencies, such as the Nigerian Police or the EFCC and also to ensure and reinforce the supremacy of the fiscal rules and regulations as provided for by the Finance Controls and Management Act, as well as the 1999 Constitution, as amended.