Nigeria issues guidelines for virtual asset taxation, requiring the declaration of income from mining, staking, and airdrops

According to The Nation Online, the Nigerian Tax Authority has released the "Virtual Asset Taxation Guidelines," officially incorporating cryptocurrencies, stablecoins, NFTs, and other blockchain digital assets into the country's tax system. The guidelines were published on July 31 and provide the first detailed framework for taxing the income from assets such as cryptocurrencies, stablecoins, governance tokens, and NFTs.

The guidelines stipulate that income generated from the disposal, exchange, or transfer of virtual assets must be taxed according to Nigerian tax law, and income from blockchain activities such as mining, staking, validating, airdrops, and token rewards is also subject to taxation. Virtual assets must be valued at the market price of exchange platforms recognized by the tax authority. Individuals and businesses must maintain complete transaction records, and virtual asset service providers must register for taxation and report large or suspicious transactions. The SEC continues to regulate securities-type virtual assets, while the tax authority is responsible for tax management. The guidelines do not set a separate tax rate for cryptocurrencies but apply existing tax law provisions. The guidelines follow President Bola Tinubu's executive order on establishing a coordinated regulatory framework for virtual assets.