The Nigerian government has released long-awaited general guidance for putting into practice the Tax Acts 2025, with the document arriving almost six months after the new rules began on January 1, 2026. The announcement came in a statement on Thursday from the finance ministry’s spokesperson, Efe Ovuakporie.
In the government’s account, the guidelines lay out the procedure for moving from the previously applicable, repealed tax statutes to the new tax regime that took effect at the start of the year. The administration said the guidance is meant to help taxpayers, tax professionals, revenue agencies, and other key stakeholders manage questions that arise when older rules are replaced by the updated framework.
Finance Minister and Coordinating Minister of the economy Taiwo Oyedele said the release is designed to provide a workable approach to transitional matters while preventing any application of the new laws on a retrospective basis. He described the Tax Acts 2025 as a major step in Nigeria’s broader tax reform agenda, adding that the guidance spells out how existing duties, ongoing tax issues, and transactions still to occur will be handled under the updated system.
Oyedele said the guidance is built around three core principles: clarity, fairness, and administrative certainty. The government also indicated that the document is intended to encourage consistent rollout and improve tax administration across the Nigeria Revenue Service, state internal revenue services, the FCT internal revenue service, local government revenue committees, tax practitioners, and taxpayers throughout the country.
