Summary

Recently, the Lagos State Internal Revenue Service (LIRS) issued a Public Notice (PN) disclosing its intention to integrate the LIRS' Personal Identification Digit (PID) for taxpayers with the national Tax Identification Number (TIN) system using taxpayers' Bank Verification Numbers (BVN).

The PID, which is also known as the Lagos State Government Electronic Banking System (LASG-EBS) Taxpayers Identification Digit, is a unique taxpayer identity code issued by the LIRS to taxpayers in Lagos State while the TIN is a national identification number for individuals or corporate entities for the purpose of tax remittance.

According to the PN, the integration will facilitate seamless sharing of taxpayers' information between tax authorities and other relevant stakeholders.

Details

The PN provides that the integration is designed to be biometric-based and the LIRS intends to employ the existing BVNs to achieve the planned integration. Furthermore, the PN states that access to the LASG-EBS platform for all transactions such as registration and creation of payer ID for new taxpayers, payments of taxes and validation of taxpayers' profile etc. will now require taxpayers' BVN.

Accordingly, the PN requires all self-employed individuals to provide their BVNs to the LIRS in order to assist in the creation of their unique PID. Corporate Organizations are also required to ensure that their employees who qualify for tax clearance certificate (TCC) include their BVN in their individual e-TCC forms.

The LIRS, in the PN, also assured taxpayers of the safety and security of all data and information in its custody.

Implications

We expect that the proposed integration of the PID into the TIN would provide the tax authorities with more reliable taxpayers' information to enable them track down tax defaulters and combat tax evasion. However, it is important that the tax authorities safeguard all data and information of taxpayers, which may be obtained from the integration process to boost taxpayers' confidence in the system.

Thus, taxpayers should engage their tax consultants as soon as possible to obtain professional guidance in complying with the directives under the Notice.

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