Central Command: Abuja’s Tax Power Play
The Big Picture: Abuja’s newly minted Taxation Acts 2025 just handed the Federal Inland Revenue Service, soon to be the Nigerian Revenue Service (NRS), the keys to every tax till in the country. Cue the federalism fireworks.
The Details: The legislation empowers the NRS to collect “all revenues, taxes, [and] levies accruable to federal, state and local governments,” Punch reports. The Acts also mandate international collaboration, further bulking up the agency’s reach. Critics say the move bulldozes the 1999 Constitution’s three-tier revenue framework. “This is a unitary system of taxation masquerading in a federal outfit,” constitutional lawyer Uche Jack-Osimiri wrote in Punch, invoking the Supreme Court’s Ansaldo precedent.
Why It Matters / What They’re Saying: Tax professionals warn that one-stop collection could streamline compliance, or stifle state innovation. The reaction was swift: state officials worry about becoming “beggars at the monthly FAAC meeting,” while the NRS points to efficiency gains. Executive Chairman Zacch Adedeji told MSN that broad collaboration “will make the reform fair and painless.”
AROUND THE TAX WORLD
• Crypto now on the radar. Nigeria’s 2026 reform package slaps progressive rates on digital-asset gains and overseas earnings, according to Nairametrics.
• Big fish, bigger haul. The NRS and sister agencies collected ₦944.41 billion from Seplat Energy, MTN Nigeria, and three others in H1 2025 (ThisDay).
• E-commerce boom. Lagos Business School pegs Nigeria’s online market at $16 billion by 2030, widening the indirect-tax base (The Whistler).
• Enforcement muscle. A fresh pact with the EFCC will let agents “follow the money” on delinquent taxpayers, TV360 Nigeria notes.
BY THE NUMBERS
Prime Number: ₦944.41 billion, corporate tax take from just five giants in six months, underscoring the clout of targeted enforcement (ThisDay).
LOOKING AHEAD
All eyes shift to 1 January 2026, when the NRS officially takes the driver’s seat and state governors decide whether to buckle up, or lawyer up. For further insights into the evolving tax framework, check out our Introduction To Nigerian Tax Laws.