The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has announced that the National Identification Number (NIN) issued by the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) would serve as the Tax Identification Number (Tax ID) for individuals under the new tax framework.
The newly introduced tax reforms, which would cause Nigerians with qualifications to pay tax to have tax ID has been met with controversy currently bothering on alleged alterations of the tax bill passed by the National Assembly.
Concerns that obtaining the tax ID when the tax laws become operative on January 1, 2026 would not come easy given similar circumstances in the past exemplified by NIN collection hassles has now been allayed.
In a public sensitisation on the coming tax regime by FIRS via a viral video it said that existing NIN would as tax IDs for taxable individuals while for companies their Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) registration number would double as tax ID.
“The Tax ID unifies all TINs previously issued by FIRS and state internal revenue services into a single identifier,” the Service said.
“For individuals, your NIN automatically serves as your Tax ID, while for registered companies, your CAC RC number is used. You do not need a physical card, the Tax ID is a unique number linked directly into your identity,” it added.
The agency stated further that the use of Tax ID for transactions is not a new development saying the requirement has existed since the Finance Act of 2019 and has only been strengthened under the NTAA to improve efficiency and compliance.
The FIRS noted that the new Tax ID system is designed to simplify identification, eliminate duplication, close loopholes that enable tax evasion and promote fairness by ensuring that individuals and businesses earning taxable income contribute appropriately.
