New Tax Law: FG Will Not Shift January Implementation Date

The Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, Taiwo Oyedele, says no going back on the January 1, 2026 take off date of the New Tax Law.

Oyedele made the declaration on Friday after a meeting with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in Aso Rock, Presidential Abuja, the nation’s capital.

He spoke amid the controversy trailing the Tax Law passed earlier this year by the National Assembly and signed by President Tinubu.

The major controversy trailing the Law came after a member of the House of Representatives claimed that the Document has been doctored,  that the copy Gazetted by the Federal government is different from the one passed by the NASS.

Amid the controversy, not a few Nigerians have called on the federal government to shift the implementation date until the allegations regarding  the Law were resolved.

For instance, the President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Afam Osigwe, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN,  in a statement called on the federal government to shelve the plan to implement the Law until the controversies surrounding it are cleared, saying this is necessary to restore credibility and confidence in the Act.

The NASS has during the week demanded that the federal government re-Gazette the copy in the possession of the NASS.

Oyedele, however, stated that the federal government will press ahead with the implementation  despite investigation by the lawmakers, saying the NASS is working with the government to ensure that the areas of concerns were resolved.

He also highlighted the benefits in the Tax Law, saying it will bring “fairness” among all the categories of tax payers in the country.

Oyedele:” We met with Mr. President to give an update about the implementation of the tax reform laws. As you already are aware, there are four of those laws, and two of them have already commenced, and that’s the Nigerian Revenue Service Establishment Act and the Joint Revenue Service Establishment Act, commenced on the 26th of June, 2025 the remaining two laws, that’s the Nigerian Tax Act and the Nigerian Tax Administration Act are scheduled to commence on the first of January 2026.

“We welcome the statement by the National Assembly, House of Representative committee today on the findings and the work around the allegations about alteration.

“The Federal Government is committed to working with the National Assembly if and when any action is required, and therefore the plan to commence the new law the two remaining new laws on the first of January 2026 will go ahead as planned on schedule, because these reforms are designed to provide relief to the Nigerian people. Bottom 98% of workers will see either no pay tax or lower taxes to be paid.

“Small businesses, 97% of them will be exempted from corporate income tax, VAT withholding tax and large businesses will see a drop in the taxes that they paid.

“The whole idea being to try and promote economic growth inclusivity as well as shared prosperity for our people. So we’re actually excited that the progress we’re making, and we’re looking forward to January 1, 2026.”

Oyedele told newsmen that the intention of the tax laws was not immediate revenue generation but to widen the revenue base to ultimately grow the economy.

He said:” The plan, the intention for this tax reform is not immediate revenue generation. We believe that over time, you get revenue from growth when the economy is growing, people pay not because tax rate has gone up, but because the base has increased.

“And number two is these reforms have rationalised a lot of wasteful and incentive that are distortionary, which is in itself, not helpful for the economy.

“And number three is we see as a result of this transformative tax reform, increasing awareness of and then task culture, and therefore improve compliance.”