The Federal Internal Income Service (FIRS) has clarified that Nigerians do not need to request or manually present a fiscal identification number (TIN) before opening or operating a bank account.
In an article by Aderonke Atoyebi, the technical assistant in transmission media for the executive president of FIRS, the body clarified that, contrary to the generalized belief, the TIN system is already integrated with the national records, which means that people and companies automatically comply with taxes once their fundamental identity numbers are provided.
According to her, under the new framework established by the Law of the Fiscal Administration of Nigeria (2025), the TIN is linked to the national identification number (NIN) for people and the RC number of the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) for companies.
He explained that this integration allows banks to recover the tin of a client directly during their client’s controls (KYC), without requiring additional documents.
He added that the framework eliminates duplicate or false identities, improves compliance and improves financial inclusion by ensuring that taxpayers are automatically identified in real time.
Atoyebi pointed out that the system also extends to cooperatives, professional and trust organizations, while aligning Nigeria’s fiscal structure with the global standards of trade, finance and compliance.
He explained that with the automated process, a Nigerian who presents an NIN or a company that provides its RC number is already verified by taxes at the point of the bank.
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“When an individual provides his NIN, as during the opening of the bank account or knows the processes of his client (KYC), the system verifies the NIN in the national database. As part of this verification, the TIN is automatically recovered and attached to the person’s records.
“This means that citizens do not need to request or submit a fiscal identification before opening a bank account. The system handles integration in real time.”
In addition, he said, “the erroneous idea that Nigerians cannot possess or operate a bank account without tax identification overlooks the integrated design of the new TIN system. When linking cans with existing fundamental identifiers such as the NIN and RC number, the system guarantees automatic compliance without creating unnecessary barriers to citizens.”
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