Diaspora, treaties and special cases

Every cross-border case in Nigerian tax resolves through two questions asked in order: is this person tax resident in Nigeria, and where is the income from? A resident is taxable on worldwide income with relief for foreign tax paid; a non-resident is taxable only on income derived from Nigeria. Hold those two lines and the exotic cases become ordinary.

The diaspora patterns repeat. A nurse in Manchester with a rented-out flat in Surulere is a non-resident with Nigerian-source income: Nigeria taxes the rent, assessed federally for non-residents, and her UK affairs are her UK preparer's business. A developer in Enugu working remotely for a German company is simply a resident: the salary is worldwide income, taxable in Nigeria and assessed by Enugu State, with credit for any German tax suffered. A returnee's year splits on the facts of residence, days present and where the permanent home is, and the agent documents those facts rather than assuming them.

When two countries genuinely tax the same income, relief comes in layers. Nigeria's double taxation treaties, with the United Kingdom, Canada, China, France, the Netherlands, South Africa, Singapore and a number of others, allocate taxing rights between the two states and carry tie-breaker rules for dual residents: permanent home first, then centre of vital interests, working down the list. With or without a treaty, the working tool is the foreign tax credit: the Nigerian tax on an item of income is reduced by the foreign tax already paid on it, capped at the Nigerian tax on that income, never more. The credit runs on evidence, foreign assessments, returns and payment proof, vaulted like everything else.

US-linked clients bring two American acronyms every Nigerian agent must recognise on sight. FBAR, FinCEN Form 114, is a US Treasury report, not a tax: a US person, citizen, green card holder or US resident, whose non-US accounts exceed $10,000 in aggregate at any moment in the year must file it, and a Nigerian-American living in Lagos with Nigerian accounts is squarely in scope. FATCA adds Form 8938 with the US return at higher thresholds, and obliges banks worldwide to report US-linked accounts. Your role is awareness and referral: flag the obligation, coordinate with a qualified US preparer, and never freelance US advice.

The special cases close the part. Individuals' chargeable gains, including crypto and other digital assets, are taxed within the personal net under the 2025 Act, with specific exemptions and thresholds for smaller share disposals and traditional reliefs around personal effects; companies' gains sit at 30% from Part 4. Exchange statements are the records that make crypto defensible. Stamp duties on instruments between individuals, leases, transfers, agreements, belong to the states. Inheritances are not taxed as income in the heir's hands, though what the inheritance later earns is taxable; genuine personal gifts are not income, while a gift dressed around an employment or business relationship is disguised income and taxable. And remittances, the diaspora's lifeblood, are gifts in the recipient's hands, not taxable income, with no Nigerian charge on sending.

The final discipline is the referral line. Complex treaty positions, foreign filings, estates with assets in multiple countries: the certified agent handles the Nigerian side impeccably, refers the foreign side deliberately, and documents the handoff. Ten questions, then the final part: running the whole thing as a practice.