Nigerian Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC ) says social media Influencers and content creators with large followers must get registered with the commission and pay tax.
CAC also urged Instagram users and TikTok users who have large followers to register their businesses with the commission too.
This, it said was the Company and Allied Matters Act 2020.
The CAC position is hinged on the rumrumor laws by the Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS) to capture media content creators and influencers into its tax system.
This is even as a source in FIRS had confirmed that there were no plans by them to subject online content creators to tax payment.
Registrar General of CAC, Hussaini Magaji, on Tuesday, hosted Othe pay team on courtesy in his office in Abuja.
The oOpayteam was led by the Managing Director of Opay, Dauda Gotring, and the visit was to ensure the regularisation of 300,000 agents and merchants with the commission.
It was also expected to expand the tax net, encourage businesses, and create more jobs for Nigerians.
Magaji said social media and content creators generate a lot of money without paying any form of tax to the Federal Government.
“Ignorance of the law is not an excuse. It is stated in the Company and Allied Matters 2020 that for any business to take place in Nigeria, whether you are doing business with your name or another name, you must surrender your business for registration.
”If you are a content creator on the internet and you have a large followership and you are gaining or making money from it, you must register and that’s the provision of the law.
“And we are all out to enforce the provision of the law with its penalties.”
Already, the previous week, CAC commenced the registration of two million small businesses in partnership with Moniepoint, a fintech company.
Magaji informed that the commission will soon begin compliance checks to ensure the social media influencers and content creators start paying their taxes to the government.
