Federal government has mandated banks and financial institutions to begin reporting monthly transactions exceeding N25 million for individuals and N100 million for firms to the tax authorities.

Under the new provisions of the Nigerian Tax Act, financial institutions are required to submit quarterly returns to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).

The agency will be renamed to the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS) from January 2026, when the new tax system will take effect.

“Every person who has an obligation to deduct and remit tax under this Act or any other Returns for tax legislation shall render monthly returns to the appropriate tax authority, as specified deduction of tax in the regulation issued for that purpose,” the Act reads.

“Without prejudice to section 142 of this Act, every bank, insurance company, stock-broking firm, or any other financial institution, shall prepare, with or without demand be delivered by the relevant tax authority, quarterly returns to the relevant tax authority specifying the names and addresses of new customers;Nigerian fashion trends

“…and existing customers in the case of (i) an individual, all transactions where the cumulative transactions in a month amount to N25,000,000 or more, or (ii) a body corporate, all transactions where the cumulative transactions in a month amount to N100,000,000 or more.”

Prior to the new tax law, banks were mandated to report deposits of N5 million — a measure intended to curb illicit financial flows, according to  TheCable

Experts said the shift is part of efforts to tighten anti-money laundering reporting in the financial sector.

In 2023, Nigeria was listed on the grey list by the  Financial Action Task Force (FATF) over deficiencies in tackling money laundering and terrorism financing.

Since then, the country has been making efforts to exit the grey list, which subjects it to increased monitoring by the FATF.

In November 2024, Hafsat Bakari,  chief executive officer (CEO) of the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), said Nigeria has achieved upgrades in five key recommendations from the FATF.

Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBS) has revealed that the number of active bank accounts in the country increased to 320 million in the first quarter of 2025.

NIBSS also announced that the country’s cashless transactions rose to N295 trillion in the that quarter, up from N237.11 trillion in the corresponding quarter of 2024.

NIBSS disclosed this in its latest report on the country’s financial sector.

According to the data, the report highlighted the growing reliance on digital payments nationwide.

Details from the report showed that electronic payment channels were used 2.21 billion times in Q1, while point-of-sale, PoS terminals recorded 776.94 million transactions.

The NIBSS report corroborates ACI Worldwide data, which indicated that the volume of Nigeria’s real-time payment transactions will reach 19.7 billion by 2028, up from 7.9 billion in 2023.

“In Nigeria, real-time payments are quickly becoming a viable alternative to cash, historically the dominant choice for payments in the country,” ACI said.

Federal Government is increasing collaborations with China to digitalise Nigeria Customs Service operations. This past weekend, NCS strengthened its cooperation efforts through a high-level engagement with the General Administration of Customs of China (GACC).

The meeting, held in Beijing, China, brought together senior officers of the customs service and top officials from the GACC to explore bilateral knowledge exchange and capacity development in customs administration.

Abdullahi Maiwada, NCS Assistant Comptroller of Customs said that discussions were held with officials from the GACC International Cooperation Division, the Training and Education Centre and representatives of the Shanghai Customs College.

“The engagement focused on deepening cooperation in customs training methodologies, modernisation models and technology-driven solutions, especially as China plays a pivotal role in Nigeria’s international trade network,” said Maiwada.

He added that during the meeting, the Chinese customs authorities shared their structured training system, which incorporates virtual reality, 5G-enabled systems, and blended e-learning approaches. In 2024, GACC conducted over 8 000 physical training sessions and developed 360 online courses.

Discussions also highlighted Nigeria’s active participation in China-led customs development initiatives, with over 200 African customs officers, including 89 from Nigeria, having received training since 2023 across various areas, such as trade facilitation, anti-smuggling enforcement, food safety supervision and digital port operations.

The bilateral dialogue between the two customs agencies also heralded new areas of collaboration, including Nigeria’s participation in upcoming Customs Modernisation Courses and officer development training at the Shanghai Customs College.