A new tax regime anchored on the Tax Reform Bills, awaiting Presidential assent, will go into effect in January.
The six-month window is to allow for sensitisation of Nigerians after President Bola Ahmed Tinubu might have signed the harmonized version of the bills, marking a significant step in the government’s ambitious drive to overhaul the tax system.
A sources said apart from sensitizing the public, the period between the Presidential assent and end of the year, will be used to make adequate preparation for the implementation of the law.
It was also learnt that the Presidency has received clean copy of the passed bill following then transmission from the National Assembly.
They are currently being scrutinize by the Presidency ahead of the Presidential assent.
The bills are: the Nigeria Tax Bill, the Nigeria Tax Administration Bill, the Nigeria Revenue Service (Establishment) Bill, and the Joint Revenue Board (Establishment) Bill.
Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr. Wale Edun, yesterday confirmed the transmission of the passed bills from the National Assembly to the Presidency at a lecture in Abuja organized to mark the 50th birthday of Mr. Taiwo Oyedele, Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms.
“It was, I think, yesterday that it was finally delivered to Mr. President by the National Assembly for him to sign off on the four tax reform bills,” Edun said, describing the moment as a critical milestone in the Tinubu administration’s reform agenda.
The minister said the bills, once signed into law, are expected to significantly improve the efficiency and fairness of Nigeria’s tax system, while nearly doubling the country’s tax-to-GDP ratio, which remains among the lowest globally.
“There is still hard work to be done in efficiently implementing the bills that have been passed. But they promise to change the fiscal landscape,” the minister said.
