Several countries want to lower cross-border tax evasion through the use of the Income Tax (Common Reporting Standard) Regulations 2019 or CRS Regulations. The CRS Regulations provide guidelines that financial institutions must follow when reporting information on bank accounts of tax residents in Nigeria. As a signatory to the global agreement, Nigeria’s tax authority must also disclose comparable information to other member countries.
The effective date for CRS regulations in Nigeria was 1 July 2019. Therefore, financial institutions will submit an annual report to the Federal Inland Revenue Service by May 31 of the next year. For instance, the 2019 report is due on 31 May 2020.
Due to the COVID-19 issue, some Financial Institutions struggle to provide information on financial accounts. Federal Inland Revenue Service has extended the deadline to file reports for the Automatic Exchange of Information Common Reporting Standard (AEOI-CRS) Regulations by 4 months. The new due date is 30 September 2020. All Financial Institutions can use the additional time to prepare and submit relevant information as required under the Income Tax (Common Reporting Standard) Regulations 2019. A copy of the public notice, FIRS extends deadline for filing AEOI common reporting standard reports, is available here.
