How to open e-Form M document in Nigeria

What is e-Form m?

An e-form M is a compulsory documentation process put in by Federal Government in Nigeria through Federal Ministry of Finance and Central Bank of Nigeria. It uses monitor all the goods that are imported into the country and to enable collection of import duties and levies on each imported physical goods at ports. The document is issued by Nigeria Customs Services (NSC). It will be approved by Central bank of Nigeria and you can process and obtain through any authorized commercial bank in Nigeria.

Form m is the first document that any importer of goods to Nigeria needs to process. You need to have the document before you books with any airline or shipping lines of your choice. After the document has been issued through your commercial, you will have access to Form Number and BA number on the document. These codes are needed to process SONCAP Certificate and PAAR (Pre-Arrival Assessment Report) documents.

IN this article, I will explain reasons banks reject form M document that importers submit the Customs. I will also show you list of documents that you will need to process e-form successfully. You will also understand how to validate your Form M document with your bank and customs servers.

Firstly, Let us look into the list of documents that you will present via Bank for Form M issuance. It is important to understand this to avoid waste of time and resources.

Lists of documents to process e-Form M in Nigeria

1. SON product Certificate
2. Insurance Certificate
3. Federal Inland Revenue Services TIN (Taxpayer Identification Number)
4. Certificate of Incorporation by Corporate Affair Commission
5. Central Bank Approval letter if the goods is under CBN 41 items banned for Forex
6. NAFDAC Import Permit if the products are strictly under Ministry of Health control list

Why Form M issuance is rejected by Bank?

Majority of importers do face rejection or queries via bank when they apply for Form M document. I will highlight possible reasons for the rejections.

1. If the HS Code is under prohibited imported goods by customs
2. If the goods is under CBN 41 items
3. When the HS code the importers is applying for is on SON Product Certificate
4. If the HS code is not applicable on Nigeria Customs Service servers
5. When the importer is having issues with FIRS in terms of TIN or others
6. When there are issues with CAC on incorporation or its Registration
7. If the importer has been banned by any government agency for importing goods to Nigeria
8. When importer is using bank that has not been authorized to issue Form M.
9. If there are discrepancies with descriptions of the goods, HS code, others

Lastly, importers need to know the validity of the document they issue with the bank. I have seen cases where a company was given contract to assist importer with Form M issuance and in the long run it turned out to be a fraud. The company issue anyhow document and it results to delay of the shipment when they wanted to process PAAR with the Form M. Importers can check the validity of the form M on https://trade.gov.ng/cbn/formm/search.do You will just input the Form Number starting with MF. If the document is real, it will show all the detail of the importers at the result page of the queries.

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