FG Drops Fresh Details On New Tax Laws, Clarifies What Changes And What Doesn’t

The Federal Government has released fresh details on Nigeria’s newly enacted tax laws, clarifying areas of change and dispelling concerns over provisions that remain unaffected, amid lingering controversy over the authenticity of different versions of the legislation.

Speaking at the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) 2026 Economic Outlook event themed “ICAN@60: Accountability as the Bedrock for National Development,” Chairman of the Presidential Tax Reform Committee, Taiwo Oyedele, explained that the government has temporarily suspended the release of implementation guidelines due to uncertainty over which version of the laws is legally binding.

Oyedele disclosed that he personally directed the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS) and the Joint Revenue Board (JRB) to halt the issuance of guidelines, stressing that implementation cannot proceed without absolute clarity on the final text of the laws.

According to him, attempts to obtain printed copies from the government printer—recognized under the Acts Authentication Act as the conclusive evidence of enacted laws—were unsuccessful, as all copies had reportedly been retrieved by the National Assembly.

“The Acts Authentication Act says whatever the government printer publishes is the evidence of the law that was passed,” Oyedele said.

“What was published was said not to reflect what lawmakers passed, and they decided to do their own gazettes. That has created uncertainty.”

He explained that although the National Assembly has the right to review and harmonize legislation, restricting public access to the officially printed laws has complicated an already sensitive reform process. As a result, tax agencies have been instructed to wait until there is full certainty that the documents in circulation represent the final and authoritative versions.

The four laws affected are the National Revenue Service (Establishment) Act, the Joint Revenue Board of Nigeria (Establishment) Act, the Nigeria Tax Administration Act, and the Nigeria Tax Act, all of which took effect on January 1, 2026.

The reforms have been controversial since December 2025, when allegations emerged that the gazetted versions of the laws differed from what the National Assembly debated and approved. A member of the House of Representatives, Abdussamad Dasuki (PDP, Sokoto), raised the issue as a matter of privilege, prompting the House to set up a seven-man investigative committee.

In response to the concerns, the National Assembly on January 3 released Certified True Copies (CTCs) of the approved versions, formally disowning the earlier gazetted copies that triggered public backlash.

Oyedele, however, downplayed the impact of any remaining discrepancies, assuring Nigerians that the core provisions of the tax reforms remain unchanged. He emphasized that key areas such as tax rates, tax burden, filing deadlines, and major exemptions were not affected.

“The few items shouldn’t affect the main thing that people need,” he said, adding that individuals earning up to ₦150 million annually from sales are exempt under the new laws.

He also blamed widespread misinformation for escalating public anxiety, noting that false claims about the reforms triggered panic selling in the stock market, leading to an estimated ₦4.6 trillion loss in market value in a single day in November 2025.

According to Oyedele, the economic impact extended to pension funds, with some contributors suffering losses as a result of the market downturn. He further alleged that opposition to the reforms included sponsored protests, claiming that some groups were paid to demonstrate against the tax laws.