ALERT! All Bank Account Holders Are To Fill And Submit Self-Certification Forms -FG

ALERT! All Bank Account Holders Are To Fill And Submit Self-Certification Forms –FG—President Buhari-Led Government has ordered all persons holding accounts across any financial institution and insurance firm to complete and submit Self-certificationforms, as failure to do so may result in penalty or inability to operate the account.

This announcement was made on social media on Thursday saying the certification forms would be in 3 categories, which are “Form for Entity – For Controlling Person (Individuals having controlling interest in a legal person, trustee, etc) – Form for individual”.

The FG urged Nigerians to comply with the requirements and execute all forms needs, all it may end up freezing the bank accounts of Nigerians. Over N30 trillion is in bank deposits of Nigierans according to Nairalytics research.

The statement reads:

“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 are 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 government appears to be widening the tax base as it steps up its strategy of relying on taxes to increase its revenue. Government revenue has been hard hit by the drop in oil prices and the Covid-19 Pandemic affecting its ability to pay for development programs, meet overheads and offer palliatives to Nigerians who are reeling from economic crunch.

The government has over the years introduced several measures targeted at increasing tax revenues. Like last year, the FIRS launched a new universal TIN aimed to boost tax compliance and revenue collection in the country.