The Federal Government has assured Nigerians that the new tax laws scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2026, will not involve automatic deductions from personal bank accounts.
The assurance was given by the Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, Taiwo Oyedele, during Channels Television’s programme, 2025 In Retrospect: Charting a Pathway to 2026.
Oyedele dismissed widespread claims that the government would monitor or debit individual bank accounts under the new tax regime, explaining that the reforms are based on self-declaration.
“People think that the government will debit their bank accounts from next year, and how they even came up with that, I have no idea,” he said.
“Nobody will debit your account for any amount you transfer. Whether it’s a billion or one thousand naira, at the end of the year, you tell the government yourself.”
He said taxpayers would be required to declare their income at the end of the tax year, stressing that individuals already know what qualifies as income and what does not.
“You know what constitutes your income and what doesn’t. So you tell the government: ‘This is my income and here is the tax.’ If you are exempted, you simply declare: ‘This is my income, and I am exempted from tax,’” Oyedele explained.
He described the system as simple and transparent, adding that further steps were being taken to make compliance easier for citizens.
According to him, one of the major benefits of the reforms is that small business owners and informal workers will no longer be unfairly burdened by the tax system.
“If you run a small business as a sole proprietor, an enterprise, or you are just hustling, the system will no longer be regressive, taxing the vulnerable more. We’ve made it progressive,” he said.
Meanwhile, President Bola Tinubu has reiterated that the implementation of the new tax laws will proceed as planned.
The President said the reforms, including those signed into law in June 2025 and others set to commence in 2026, are aimed at building a fair and competitive fiscal framework rather than increasing taxes.
He urged stakeholders to support the implementation phase, noting that the reforms are now firmly in the delivery stage and necessary for strengthening the country’s fiscal foundation.
