We’ve confirmed alterations in gazetted tax laws – Reps panel

The Minority Caucus of the House of Representatives has confirmed that some of Nigeria’s recently gazetted tax laws were illegally altered after being passed by the National Assembly and assented to by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

This was disclosed in an interim report of the Minority Caucus Ad-hoc Committee on Tax Laws, set up to investigate allegations of discrepancies between the tax reform Acts passed by the legislature and the versions published in the official gazette.

The controversy followed public outrage after a member of the House, Hon. Abdulsamad Dasuki (PDP, Sokoto) raised the alarm on the floor of the chamber over the alleged discrepancies between the gazetted tax laws in circulation and the version passed by the National Assembly.

In a statement dated December 28, 2025, the Minority Caucus had vowed to “unconditionally protect the independence of the legislature and our democracy,” warning that any attempt to foist fake laws on Nigerians amounted to an attack on the constitutional role of parliament.

Consequently, on January 2, 2026, the caucus, under the leadership of the Minority Leader, Rt. Hon. Kingsley Chinda, constituted a seven-member fact-finding committee chaired by Hon. Afam Victor Ogene. Other members are Hon. Aliyu Garu (Bauchi), Hon. Stanley Adedeji (Oyo), Hon. Ibe Osonwa (Abia), Hon. Marie Ebikake (Bayelsa), Hon. MB Shehu Fagge (Kano) and Hon. Gaza Gbefwi Jonathan (Nasarawa).

The committee noted that on January 3, 2026, the House, through its spokesman, Rep. Akintunde Rotimi, announced that Speaker Abbas Tajudeen directed the public release of the four tax reform Acts duly signed into law by the President, alongside an internal verification process to “eliminate doubts, restore clarity, and protect the sanctity of the legislature.”

The Acts released were the Nigeria Tax Act, 2025; Nigeria Tax Administration Act, 2025; National Revenue Service (Establishment) Act, 2025; and the Joint Revenue Board (Establishment) Act, 2025.

According to the committee’s preliminary findings, a comparison of the Certified True Copies released by the House with the earlier gazetted versions confirmed that alterations had indeed been made, particularly to the Nigeria Tax Administration Act, 2025.

The report revealed that at least three different versions of the Nigeria Tax Administration Act were in circulation, while the directive to “align” the Acts with the Federal Government Printing Press pointed to “procedural anomalies” that illegally encroached on the legislative powers of the National Assembly.

Among the contentious alterations identified was Section 29(1) of the Nigeria Tax Administration Act, where reporting thresholds were lowered in the gazetted version from N50 million to N25 million for individuals and from N250 million to N100 million for companies, contrary to what was passed by the legislature.

The committee also flagged the introduction of new subsections 41(8) and 41(9) in the gazetted Act, mandating taxpayers to deposit 20 per cent of disputed tax amounts before appealing decisions of the Tax Appeal Tribunal—provisions which, it said, were absent from the authentic version passed by the National Assembly.

Other discrepancies include expanded enforcement powers under Section 64, granting tax authorities powers of arrest and asset sale without court orders; alterations to the definition of federal taxes under Section 3(1)(b), which removed petroleum income tax and VAT; and changes to Section 39(3), mandating tax computations for petroleum operations in US dollars instead of the currency of transaction.

In the National Revenue Service (Establishment) Act, the committee observed that oversight provisions empowering the National Assembly to summon officials and demand quarterly and annual reports were deleted in the gazetted version, a move it described as a violation of the doctrine of checks and balances.

Given the “anomalies, illegalities and impunity” uncovered, the committee said the evidence so far warranted a deeper investigation to ensure accountability for what it described as an affront against the legislature and Nigeria’s democracy.

The panel has therefore requested an extension of time to conduct a more comprehensive probe into the matter.

Hon. Ogene, in the report, thanked the Minority Caucus leadership for the opportunity to serve and pledged the committee’s commitment to safeguarding the constitutional powers of the National Assembly.

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