The Federal Government has declared that there would be no shift whatsoever in the January 1, 2026, date for the implementation of the Nigerian Tax Act and the Nigerian Tax Administration Act.
This is even as the leadership of the National Assembly on Friday ordered the re-gazetting of the Tax Law it passed which was allegedly altered and gazetted by the federal government.
Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, Taiwo Oyedele, told journalists in Lagos on Friday shortly after meeting with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, that the plan to commence the new laws on January 1, 2026, will go ahead as planned since the reforms were designed to provide relief to the Nigerian people.
Oyedele, who was in company of the Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Zacchaeus Adedeji, and the Chairman of the National Tax Policy Implementation Committee, Joseph Tegbe, said the whole idea is to try and promote economic growth, inclusivity as well as shared prosperity for the people.
In the words of Oyedele; “Bottom 98 per cent of workers will see either no Pay As You Earn (PAYE) tax or lower taxes to be paid, small businesses 97 per cent of them will be exempted from Corporate Income Taxes, Value Added Tax (VAT), and Withholding Tax, and large businesses will see a drop in the taxes that they pay,”.
While welcoming the position of the National Assembly with regards to the allegations of alteration or falsification of the Tax law passed by the legislature, Oyedele said the Federal Government is ready to work with the federal lawmakers to address the concerns raised by Nigerians, including opposition figures.
Tinubu signed the four tax reform bills into law, marking what the government described as the most significant overhaul of the country’s tax system in decades.
The tax reform laws, which faced stiff opposition from federal lawmakers from the northern part of the country before their passage, are scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2026.
The new laws include the Nigeria Tax Act, the Nigeria Tax Administration Act, the Nigeria Revenue Service (Establishment) Act, and the Joint Revenue Board (Establishment) Act, all operating under a single authority, the Nigeria Revenue Service.
