Nigeria’s biggest tax shake-up in decades set for 2026 despite controversy

The January 1, 2026 start date for Nigeria’s new tax regime will not be shifted, the Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, Taiwo Oyedele, has said.

Oyedele spoke in Lagos on Friday while briefing journalists after a meeting with President Bola Tinubu, insisting that the implementation of the Nigerian Tax Act and the Nigerian Tax Administration Act would proceed as scheduled.

He said the reforms were designed to ease the burden on ordinary Nigerians and stimulate economic growth. According to him, the bottom 98 per cent of workers would either pay no Pay As You Earn tax or see their PAYE obligations reduced, while about 97 per cent of small businesses would be exempt from Corporate Income Tax, Value Added Tax and Withholding Tax. Large companies, he added, would also benefit from lower overall tax liabilities.

Oyedele said the objective of the reforms was to promote inclusivity and shared prosperity, adding that the Federal Government was committed to working with the National Assembly to address concerns raised by Nigerians, including opposition figures. The meeting with the President was also attended by the Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, Zacchaeus Adedeji, and the Chairman of the National Tax Policy Implementation Committee, Joseph Tegbe.

The comments come amid controversy over alleged discrepancies between the tax bills passed by lawmakers and the versions later gazetted. A member of the House of Representatives, Abdussamad Dasuki, has questioned the authenticity of the published laws, arguing that what was gazetted did not reflect what was debated and approved by parliament.

Dasuki said lawmakers did not have access to the harmonised versions certified by the clerk of the National Assembly, making it impossible to verify whether changes had been made after passage. He argued that only the legislature could authoritatively confirm what was transmitted to the President for assent.

Despite the dispute, President Tinubu has signed four tax reform bills into law, which the government has described as the most far-reaching overhaul of Nigeria’s tax system in decades. The laws are the Nigeria Tax Act, the Nigeria Tax Administration Act, the Nigeria Revenue Service (Establishment) Act and the Joint Revenue Board (Establishment) Act, all to operate under a single authority, the Nigeria Revenue Service.

The reforms, which faced strong opposition from some lawmakers from the northern part of the country before their passage, are scheduled to take effect nationwide on January 1, 2026.