CAC denies claims of charging companies for Tax IDs

The Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) has debunked reports that its agency is demanding companies to pay for their Tax Identification Number (TIN) in the country.

In a circular signed by the management on Friday, the commission said it noticed flood of emails that did not emanate from them targeting directors of newly incorporated companies with requests for payment to acquire tax IDs.

Accordingly, CAC said that Tax IDs are free according to the stipulations of Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), adding that companies can electronically generate the ID upon registration.

• “The attention of the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) has been drawn to an avalanche of email messages sent to directors of newly registered companies requesting them to pay certain fees to obtain a tax identification number (TIN), amongst others.
• “The Commission wishes to clearly state that such messages are not from us and that TIN is free and automatically generated from the Federal Inland Revenue Service upon incorporation, as the agencies have fully integrated the service.
• “The Federal Inland Revenue Service’s (FIRS) Tax Identification Number (TIN) is electronically generated and endorsed instantly on the certificates of relevant business entities upon registration with the Commission’s Company Registration Portal (CRP) at no cost,” the circular read.

Furthermore, the agency said  that the official list of services and associated fees can be found exclusively on their website at www.cac.gov.ng.

• “All services of the Commission and fees are as published on the Commission’s website at cac.gov.ng.
• “Any notice, information, or update issued to the general public on the operations of the Commission are equally published on the website,” CAC added.

What you should know

Since 2020, under the Ease Of Doing Business Initiative, the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) partnered with the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to simultaneously provide Tax Identification Numbers (TIN) with the Certificate of Incorporation.

With this development, companies and business owners can now proceed to open a corporate account upon receiving their Certificate of Incorporation, rather than waiting another week or more for the issuance of Tax Identification Numbers.

This also allows them to easily request loans and credit facilities from financial institutions and dispenses the need to visit the FIRS office.

For the revenue collection agency, the development is set to improve the accuracy of its database of registered businesses operating in the country and can aid it to widen its revenue net.

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