CBN
Banks Demand Applicants’ Tax Clearance For FX At Official Rate
A tax clearance certificate is now required from customers by banks to procure US Dollars and other foreign exchange currencies at the official rate of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The new requirement which complies with the Federal and state governments’ regulations, is aimed at ensuring tax compliance.
The requirement is said to be in line with the provisions of the Personal Income Tax Act.
An update on FX requests and transactions sent to a customer by one of the commercial banks but obtained by our correspondent stated that “In line with the provision of the Personal Income Tax Act (PITA), all banks are now required to sight customers’ Tax Clearance Certificate (TCC) before foreign exchange transactions can be fulfilled.
“Consequently, all FX and Form A requests will now require a copy of the applicants’ TCC before the request can be completed. This includes PTA/BTA, international school fees, medicals, personal home remittances, and upkeep.
“Please be informed that with immediate effect, it is now mandatory to include a valid tax clearance certificate along with all the documents currently uploaded on the portal for Form A requests (PTA/BTA, Tuition, Maintenance/Upkeep).
“This additional requirement has been implemented to ensure compliance with tax regulations and to facilitate smoother processing of your requests.”
The CBN official exchange rate for Naira to US Dollar is about N463 per US Dollar as against N762 to N765 per dollar in the parallel market, creating large room for arbitrage. Nigeria’s central bank has faced grave forex liquidity scarcity which has impacted negatively on the value of the local currency.
About The Author
