FG says account holders in any financial institution must fill these forms or face penalty

The Federal Government of Nigeria has demanded that all account holders in any financial institution within the country must fill and submit what it calls "self-certification forms" to all those financial institutions, or risk being penalized (including losing access to their accounts).

The announcement was made yesterday via the Federal Government's official Twitter handle @NigeriaGov and states as follows:

INFORMATION:

This is to notify the general public that all account holders in Financial Institutions (Banks, Insurance Companies, etc) are required to obtain, complete and submit Self - Certification Forms to their respective Financial Institutions.

Persons holding accounts in different financial institutions is required to complete & submit the form to each one of the institutions. The forms are required by the relevant financial institutions to carry out due diligence procedures in line with the Income Tax Regulations 2019. 

The self-certification form is in 3 categories:

- Form for Entity

- For Controlling Person (Individuals having controlling interest in a legal person, trustee, etc)

- Form for individual

Failure to comply with the requirement to administer or execute this form attracts sanctions which may include monetary penalty or inability to operate the account. For more enquiries visit @firsNigeria website (https://t.co/lv3VYV5wD4) for more details.

There isn't immediate clarity on the purpose of this exercise, but it seems to be coordinated by and for the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), which is Nigeria's tax collector. As such, it is assumed that it has something to do with improving their ability to collect taxes with less evasion by account holders.