Nigeria Issues Tax Guidelines for Virtual Assets, Mining and Airdrop Income Must Be Declared

The Federal Inland Revenue Service of Nigeria has released the "Tax Guidelines for Virtual Assets," incorporating cryptocurrencies, stablecoins, NFTs, and other blockchain digital assets into the tax system. The guidelines, published on July 31, provide a detailed framework for taxing income from crypto assets. It stipulates that profits from the disposal, exchange, or transfer of virtual assets must be taxed under Nigerian tax law, and income from blockchain activities such as mining, staking, validation, airdrops, and token rewards is also subject to taxation. Virtual assets must be valued at market prices from exchanges recognized by the tax authority. Individuals and businesses are required to maintain complete transaction records, and virtual asset service providers must register for tax and report large or suspicious transactions. Securities-like virtual assets are regulated by the SEC, while the tax authority is responsible for tax management. The guidelines do not set a specific crypto tax rate but apply existing tax law provisions, following President Bola Tinubu's executive order to establish a coordinated regulatory framework for virtual assets.