Tax Identification Numbers (TINs) are not required for strictly personal bank accounts under Nigeria’s new tax reforms; they become mandatory only if the account is used for business transactions, the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms has clarified.
Taiwo Oyedele, chairman of the tax reforms committee, who made this known, advised bank customers to conduct a self-assessment, noting that authorities will be able to detect such use via Bank Verification Number (BVN) patterns.
Speaking during a session with the management of LEADERSHIP Newspaper in Abuja at the weekend, Oyedele said that individuals using personal bank accounts for business transactions must now obtain a TIN, adding that tax authorities leveraging BVN data can detect evasion patterns such as multiple random inflows from customers and outflows to suppliers.
“You need a tax ID for your bank account if that bank account is used for business transactions. If you are not using your account for business, you don’t need to attach your tax ID. If you don’t get your tax ID, the authorities will know.”
According to him, this requirement is rooted in the 2020 Finance Act, effective from 13 January 2020, and gains teeth through new digital intelligence that allows authorities to identify business activity in unregistered personal accounts — including those of spouses or children used to hide income — ensuring compliant taxpayers are not disadvantaged.
Oyedele stressed self-compliance: “You need a tax ID for your bank account if that bank account is used for business… If you know that you are using it for business, get a tax ID. If you don’t get a tax ID, because we have your BVN, we can find out,” he warned, adding that flagged accounts trigger unfriendly tax enforcement.
“So, different random people will be paying into the account. You would also be paying different random people, maybe your suppliers. When the system detects that pattern, the authorities will know that this is a business account, and the tax man will come to you — and it will not be friendly at that point, because it means you yourself have not been honest.”
He noted that some banks already enforce this proactively.
The measure, he explained, will combat evasion where individuals funnel business revenue into personal accounts to dodge taxes, undermining progressivity that exempts low earners (up to N100,000 monthly from Pay As You Earn (PAYE) starting January 2026) while targeting higher incomes fairly.
“If we agree that poor people should not pay, let them not pay… Don’t allow rich people to hide, because the system will collapse,” he said.
Oyedele lamented the high level of misinformation surrounding the new tax regime, scheduled to take effect from 1 January 2026.
“If you go on the street now and ask any young person, they will tell you there’s a 30 per cent tax in the capital market, because that’s what they’ve been told,” he said.
He highlighted significant reforms targeting the capital market aimed at boosting participation and attracting investments. These reforms exempt portfolios and sales under N150 million — which covers about 99 per cent of investors — from capital gains tax, encouraging small and medium investors to stay engaged in the market without tax burdens.
