Finance Act 2020: Tax Consultant Makes Clarification On Provision Of TIN

West Africa Tax Leader at Deloitte, Yomi Olugbenro has made some clarifications concerning the Finance Bill signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday.

Olugbenro said there is absolutely no reason for Nigerians to nurse fear over provisions in the finance act, especially as it regards the mandate on  banks to request Tax Identification Number (TIN) before individuals are allowed to open bank accounts.

Concerns have been raised by many Nigerians on possible disruptions to the bank system based on the provisions of the act which mandates provision of TIN to operate bank accounts or risk restrictions.

But the tax consultant while speaking on the BusinessMorning show on Channels Television, however, said the provisions stated in the bill was specially tied to individuals using their personal accounts for business purposes and not those just doing personal transactions. 

“There is no provision requesting TIN for personal bank account unless the account is for biz operations. It’s purely for persons operating bank accounts for biz purposes – sole traders, enterprises, and partnerships – same for ltd liability companies.”

Recall that President Muhammadu Buhari had on Monday signed the Finance Bill into law.

According to the President, this is the first time, since the return of democracy in 1999 that a Federal Budget is being accompanied by the passage of a Finance Bill.