Privacy Policy

Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy establishes the understanding between The Federal Inland Revenue Service, hereafter referred to as FIRS, and you, outlining our commitment to safeguarding your privacy in relation to our administrative records, websites, mobile applications, social media platforms, and physical premises.

1.0 Your Privacy Rights

This Privacy Policy elucidates how we gather, share, safeguard, and manage your personal information. It is applicable to the FIRS website, mobile app, database applications, services, tools, and any interaction you have with us, regardless of the means of access.

Should you create a username, identification code, password, or any confidential information for security purposes, it is imperative to treat such data as private and not disclose it to third parties. We reserve the right to deactivate any user identification code or password, whether chosen by you or allocated by us, should we deem that you have contravened any of the stipulations in these Conditions. If you suspect any unauthorized access to your security details, kindly inform us at helpdesk@firs.gov.ng.

2.0 Consent

By using our platforms, accessing our services, content, features, technologies, or visiting our offices for official or unofficial reasons, collectively termed as “FIRS services,” you acknowledge and consent to this Privacy Policy. This Policy governs the utilization of FIRS services and intervention projects by our users and stakeholders unless otherwise agreed upon in a written contract. We retain the right to modify this Privacy Policy at any time, with the updated version becoming effective seven days after publication on our website or conspicuously at our office facilities.

3.0 Your Personal Information

When utilizing FIRS services, we collect data transmitted to us by your computer, mobile device, or other electronic access tools. This automatically collected information encompasses, but is not limited to, data regarding the web pages you visit, your computer’s IP address, device ID, device type, geolocation data, connection information, mobile network information, page view statistics, website traffic, referral URLs, advertising data, standard web logs, still and moving images.

Furthermore, we may collect information you provide to us, including, but not limited to, data filled out on web forms, survey responses, updates to your account, email correspondence, phone numbers, the organization you represent, your official position, interactions with FIRS support services, and telecommunications with FIRS. We may also record information about your transactions, inquiries, and activities on our platform or premises.

We may also receive information from third-party sources, such as social media sites. Please note that information about you from these third-party sites is not under FIRS’s control, and we cannot be held liable for how they utilize this information.

4.0 Use of Your Personal Information

Our collection of your personal information serves the purpose of providing you with efficient, enjoyable, and secure services. Your information may be employed to:

– Offer FIRS services and support.

– Process applications and send transaction notifications to the relevant parties.

– Verify your identity.

– Resolve disputes and issues.

– Mitigate risks, detect, prevent, or address fraud or other potentially prohibited or illegal activities.

– Detect, prevent, or address violations of laws, regulations, standards, guidelines, and frameworks.

– Enhance FIRS services by implementing aggregate customer or user preferences.

– Assess the performance of FIRS services and enhance content, technology, and layout.

– Monitor and address information breaches.

– Safeguard and manage our information technology and physical infrastructure.

– Contact you through the provided telephone number, email address, or other contact details as necessary.

5.0 Cookies

Cookies are small files placed on your computer’s hard drive, enabling websites to recognize your computer as you navigate different pages. Cookies allow websites and applications to save your preferences for presenting content, options, or features tailored to you. Like most interactive websites, our site employs cookies to track your activity during a session. Our website exclusively uses encrypted session cookies that are deleted either after a set timeout or upon logging out and closing the browser. Session cookies do not collect data from your computer and typically store session identification information that does not personally identify you.

6.0 Protection of Your Personal Information

We store and process your personal data within Nigeria. When transferring data to another country, that country must have adequate data protection laws. If data needs to be sent to a country without adequate data protection laws, we will seek your consent. To safeguard your information, we employ physical, technical, and administrative security measures to reduce the risk of loss, misuse, unauthorized access, disclosure, and alteration. Some of the protective measures we use include firewalls and data encryption, physical access controls to our data centers, and authorization controls for information access.

7.0 Sharing of Your Information within FIRS and with Other Users

While interacting with our website or premises, we may share information such as your name and contact details with other government Ministries, Departments, Agencies (MDAs) or private sector entities fulfilling government functions as required to execute our statutory obligations to you or third parties.

We collaborate with third parties, particularly government agencies, to provide FIRS services and execute our mandates. In doing so, third parties may share information about you, like your email address or mobile phone number.

You acknowledge that your pictures and testimonials on all social media platforms about FIRS may be used for limited promotional purposes by us, excluding your trademark or copyrighted materials. Periodically, we may send you pertinent information, including news updates, enforcement notices, statutorily mandated notifications, and essential information to facilitate the implementation of our mandate. We may also share your personal information in compliance with national or international laws, crime prevention and risk management agencies, and service providers.

8.0 Security

We are committed to securely storing your information. To prevent unauthorized access, we have implemented rigorous controls and security measures at both technical and operational levels. Our site uses Secure Sockets Layer/Transport Layer Security (SSL/TLS) to ensure the secure transmission of your personal data. Upon successful login, you will notice a padlock symbol in your URL address bar, along with an ‘https://’ at the start of the URL, indicating a secure webpage. SSL encrypts data between your PC and the connecting server, ensuring that data cannot be read during transmission.

FIRS has implemented digital and physical security measures in compliance with global Information Security Management Systems (ISMS) standards, significantly reducing the likelihood of data privacy breaches.

9.0 Data Confidentiality Rights

Your information is considered confidential and will not be disclosed to third parties except in compliance with legal and regulatory requirements. You have the right to request access to and copies of all the information we hold about you, provided such requests align with the Freedom of Information Act and other relevant enactments. Upholding confidentiality obligations also involves adopting and enforcing security measures, including non-sharing of passwords and other platform login details, adherence to physical security protocols on our premises, and engaging only with authorized FIRS personnel.

10.0 Links to Other Websites and Premises

Certain transaction processing channels may necessitate links to websites or organizations outside of our domain. It is crucial to note that FIRS does not oversee or control websites beyond its domain. We do not monitor or review the content of third-party websites linked from our platform or media channels. The opinions and materials expressed on such websites are not necessarily endorsed by FIRS, and we should not be considered the publisher of such content. We disclaim responsibility for the privacy practices and content of these external sites. Users are encouraged to be vigilant when leaving our site and review the

 privacy statements of these external sites. Before disclosing any personal information to these sites, it is advisable to evaluate their security and trustworthiness. FIRS bears no responsibility for any loss or damage resulting from the disclosure of personal information to third parties, irrespective of the manner or cause.

11.0 Governing Law

This Privacy Policy is established in accordance with the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation (2019) and other pertinent Nigerian laws, regulations, or applicable international conventions. Should any provision of this Policy be found inconsistent with any law, regulation, or convention, it will be subject to the prevailing law, regulation, or convention.