House of Reps Passes Tax Reform Bills, Rejects VAT Increase to 15%

Nigeria’s House of Representatives on Tuesday passed for third reading the four tax reform bills submitted by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in October 2024.

This follows the House’s approval of the report from its Committee on Finance, which reviewed the bills alongside public submissions. Notably, the committee opted to retain the value-added tax (VAT) at 7.5% instead of the proposed 15%.

The bills—Nigeria Tax Bill 2024, Tax Administration Bill, Nigeria Revenue Service Establishment Bill, and Joint Revenue Board Establishment Bill—have sparked controversies in recent months.

One of the earliest oppositions came from the Northern Nigeria Governors’ Forum, which rejected the VAT derivation model proposed in the Nigeria Tax Bill. The National Economic Council also opposed the model.

President Tinubu first presented the bills to the National Assembly in October 2024.