Zacch Adedeji, executive chairman of the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS), says that the new tax law do not authorise taxation of funds held in personal bank accounts.
Adedeji made the clarification on Tuesday while speaking on Journalists’ Hangout, a programme aired on TVC, amid widespread anxiety over tax reforms that took effect on January 1.
“Whether old tax law or new tax law has nothing to do with your personal bank account, whether you’re a company or you are an individual,” he said..
“Don’t forget that tax is a percentage of your profits. So if you have an asset, the asset is not to be taxed. We only tax the profits. We only tax the return.”
The revenue chief dismissed claims that savings balances, transfers or account descriptions could trigger automatic deductions as “unfounded and misleading.”
He said there is no legal backing for such actions under either the former or the current tax framework.
“There is no law that allows anybody to go into your bank account and tax you because you transfer money or you keep money,” he said.
“If you transfer money from your account to my brother, that is a personal transaction between both of you. It has nothing to do with tax authority, whether at the state level or at the federal level.
He also rejected suggestions that banks could be directed to debit accounts for tax purposes based solely on available funds or transfer narrations.
Adedeji also described the shift from the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to the NRS as a structural reform aimed at modernising tax administration rather than a mere rebranding exercise.