Nigeria Releases Key Guidelines for Tax System Overhaul

• FG has released General Guidelines for implementing the Tax Acts 2025, setting January 1, 2026
• Taxes for periods before 2026 will still follow old laws, while taxes from 2026 onward will follow the new system.
• Minister Taiwo Oyedele said the new guidelines will make tax rules clear, fair, and easier to follow

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Legit.ng journalist Dave Ibemere has over a decade of experience in business journalism, with in-depth knowledge of the Nigerian economy, stocks, and general market trends.

The federal government has released new guidelines on how Nigeria will move to a new tax system under the Tax Acts 2025, which will begin on January 1, 2026.

According to the guidelines released in Abuja on Thursday, June 18 returns for periods ending on or before December 31, 2025 will be handled under the old legislations while returns due on or after January 1, 2026 will fall under the new regime.

Why the new guidelines

FG said that the document aims to provide operational guidance to tax authorities, practitioners and taxpayers to navigate issues such as returns submission, payment of tax liabilities, assessments, audits, and investigations, the Sun reports

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It also provides clarification for matters related to various taxes and their applications during the transition period, such as the effective dates of the acts that make up the new framework and their scope of application in time.

The new Tax Acts 2025–consisting of the Nigeria Revenue Service (Establishment) Act, the Nigeria Tax Act 2025, the Nigeria Tax Administration Act 2025 and the Joint Revenue Board (Establishment) Act-will come into effect from their respective commencement dates, the specific date for the Nigeria Tax Act being January 1, 2026.

The guidelines stated:

“Tax liabilities, assessments, audits, investigations, disputes and enforcement actions relating to periods before that date will be treated under the repealed tax laws."

In addition, existing tax incentives and exemptions that were granted under the prior tax laws shall remain valid throughout the duration of their respective term but new applications for tax incentives and pending applications shall be assessed under the new laws.

The Tax Acts 2025 will apply to various tax laws such as income taxes, transaction taxes, development levies, tax incentives and exemptions as well as matters relating to record-keeping and transactions that straddle both regimes.

New tax law guidelines

On the release, Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele stated that the guidelines provide for a seamless transition to the new tax laws.

The minister said:

“No taxpayer should fear the transition since the new laws will not apply retrospectively.”

He added that the guidelines to the Tax Acts 2025 represent another milestone in the ongoing tax reforms aimed at promoting a more predictable, clear and fair tax environment that provides both certainty and administrative ease.

The Finance Minister added:

“They will provide clarity and uniformity in the application of tax laws across the Nigeria Revenue Service (NIRS), various state internal revenue services, the FCT Internal Revenue Service, local government revenue committees and amongst tax practitioners and taxpayers."

Nigeria records N1.37trn company income tax

Earlier, Legit.ng reported that the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has revealed that Nigeria’s Company Income Tax (CIT) collections stood at N1.37 trillion in Q1 2026, representing an 8.08% decline from the N1.49 trillion recorded in Q4 2025.

This was disclosed in the bureau’s latest Company Income Tax report covering Q1 2026.

The data shows that total CIT collections were driven by both domestic and foreign payments across key sectors of the economy.