FG apologises, says self-certification order not for everyone

The Federal Government on Friday, apologised to Nigerians over a tweet on its twitter account on Thursday, which notified the general public that all account holders in financial institutions (banks, insurance companies, etc) were required to obtain, complete and submit self – certification forms to their respective financial institutions.

In the tweet, it said failure to comply would attract sanctions which may include monetary penalty or inability to operate the accounts.

The wide backlash from the message, led the government to clarify that the order was not meant for all Nigerians.

In another tweet, it said, “We apologise for the misleading tweets (now deleted) that went up yesterday, regarding the completion of self-certification forms by reportable persons.

“The message contained in the @firsNigeria notice does not apply to everybody.

“FIRS will issue appropriate clarification shortly.”

The Federal Inland Revenue Service clarified the message in a statement titled ‘Completion of self-certification forms by reportable persons’.

It stated, “This is to notify the general public, especially holders of accounts in financial institutions (commercial banks, merchant banks, discount houses, mortgage or development banks, insurance and life assurance companies, investment advisers, trustees, asset management companies, issuing houses, brokers/dealers e.t.c) that all account holders are required to obtain, complete and submit their respective financial institutions self-certification forms.

“The self-certification forms are required by the relevant financial institutions to carry out due diligence procedures in line with the requirements of the Income Tax (Common Reporting Standard) Regulation 2019.

“The self-certification forms are to be administered by financial institutions in order that the account holders may clearly document their respective jurisdiction of tax residence.

“A person holding accounts in different financial institutions is required to complete and submit the self-certification form to each one of the financial institutions.”

“However, in the case of a person holding multiple accounts in the same financial institution, one self-certification form is sufficient for all the accounts in that same financial institution.”