NRS flips the switch on 2026 tax reboot
The Big Picture: The calendar may still read 2025, but Nigeria’s tax makeover already has a front-runner. Taiwo Oyedele, chair of the Presidential Fiscal Policy & Tax Reforms Committee, told the Lagos crowd at the Nigerian Economic Summit Group’s Half-Year Forum that the just-renamed Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS) is “the most ready of all our stakeholders” for the January 1, 2026 rollout of the new tax acts, Punch reports.
The Details:
• Oyedele credited the agency,formerly FIRS,with pouring resources into staff training and system upgrades.
• President Bola Tinubu signed the reform package earlier this year, giving businesses 12+ months to prepare.
• The laws promise full exemptions for “vulnerable income earners and very small businesses,” the committee chief stressed, adding, “Revenue generation should not come from taxing poverty.”
Why It Matters / What They’re Saying: The reaction was swift across boardrooms. Tax advisers welcome clarity on the implementation date, but many still worry about aligning legacy accounting systems with the incoming rules. Oyedele’s message: scale your business, close the evasion gap, and the revenue will “come naturally.”
Around the Tax World
- E-invoicing era officially live: The federal government’s new Electronic Fiscal System (EFS) launched August 1, giving the NRS real-time visibility into transactions and aiming to curb evasion (TV360 Nigeria).
- Deadline extension alert: Large taxpayers (₦5 billion+ turnover) now have until November 1, 2025, not August 1, to plug into the Merchant-Buyer System after early technical hiccups (TV360 Nigeria).
- Dangote Cement wears the compliance crown: Ogun State tax officials hailed the Ibese plant as the state’s highest tax-paying industrial outfit, praising its “benchmark for corporate responsibility” (Business Post Nigeria; Realnews Magazine).
Tax Stat of the Day
Prime Number: 1,000.
Within two weeks of launch, over 1,000 large companies, representing 20% of eligible businesses, have begun integrating with the new e-invoicing platform.
Looking Ahead
All eyes now turn to November 1, the new EFS cut-off date, while NRS fine-tunes its playbook (Presidential Committee Hosts Tax Reforms Workshop: Are We Ready?) for the January 2026 reforms. Expect a flurry of guidance notes and sector-specific webinars before year-end.