…says executive undermining legislative powers to drag more taxpayers into the tax net
The minority caucus of Nigeria’s House of Representatives on Friday said its investigation has confirmed that the tax reform laws were altered after they had been passed by the National Assembly.
The Cacus accused the executive arm of government of illegally altering the enacted tax reform laws, warning that the actions amount to a direct assault on the constitutional authority of the National Assembly and a threat to democratic governance.
In an interim report, the Cacus, under the leadership of Kingsley Chinda, said it had set up a 7-man Fact-finding Committee on January 2nd “to get to the root of the scandal” after public outrage over allegations of discrepancies in the passed and gazetted tax.
The ad-hoc committee set up by the caucus is independent of the committee set up by the House leadership. It is led by Afam Victor Ogene. Other members of the committee include Aliyu Garu – Bauchi, Stanley Adedeji – Oyo, Ibe Osonwa – Abia, Hon. Marie Ebikake – Bayelsa, MB Shehu Fagge – Kano and Gaza Gbefwi Jonathan – Nasarawa.
Abdulsamad Dasuki, a member of the House h, had raised an concerning the circulation of an aauthorisedversion different from the one passed by the National Assembly. On January 3, 2026, the House of Representatives directed the release of the four tax reform Acts duly signed into law by the President, for public record, verification, and reference. The four Acts thus released included: The Nigeria Tax Act, 2025; The Nigeria Tax Administration Act, 2025; The National Revenue Service ( Establishment) Act, 2025; and the Joint Revenue Board (Establishment) Act, 2025
The Cacus said as part of its investigations, it’s Ad-hoc committee compared the Certified True Copies of the Acts released officially by the House of Representatives as directed by the Speaker, with the already gazetted version already in circulation before the alarm was raised by the House, and confirmed that there were some alterations as alleged by Dasuki on the floor of the House of Representatives, especially in the Nigeria Tax Administration Act, 2025;
The Cacus also confirmed that there were three different versions of the documents in circulation, particularly the Nigeria Tax Administration Act, 2025
It noted that the order to the Clerk of the National Assembly, to take steps to “aligning the Acts – duly passed, assented to, and certified – with the Federal Government Printing Press to ensure accuracy, conformity, and uniformity,” is a clear indication that there were some procedural anomalies in the previously gazetted version that illegally encroached on the core mandate of the National Assembly, as the only organ of government constitutionally empowered to make laws for the good of the people, as prescribed.
“This is a grave concern that would be deeply looked into,” it stated.
Contentious Portions
According to the interim report by the caucus, the Nigeria Tax Administration Act (NTAA), 2025, has a number of discrepancies from the version passed by the National Assembly and the version earlier published in the official gazette. These discrepancies are obvious, going by the released Certified True Copies (CTCs) by the House referenced earlier.
i. Section 29(1): On Reporting Thresholds: While the NASS Certified version provided for a tax compliance reporting threshold of N50 million for individuals and N100 million for companies, the gazetted version lowered the reporting thresholds for individuals to (N25 million from N50 million) and (N100 million from N250 million) for companies.
“This is a clear case of the Executive undermining legislative powers by illegally altering an already passed law to drag more taxpayers into the net,” the report read.
ii. Section 41: Introducing new subsections (8) and (9) prescribing a mandatory 20% Deposit for Appeals:
The gazetted version introduced new subsections 41(8) and 41(9), which required taxpayers to deposit 20% of the disputed tax amount as a condition for appealing Tax Appeal Tribunal (TAT) decisions to the High Court.
These sections were not in the authentic version passed by NASS.
iii. Section 64: Enforcement and Power of Arrest.
The gazetted law illegally increased the powers of the tax authority to include the power to arrest individuals suspected of tax violations through law enforcement agencies, and allowed for the sale of seized assets without a court order.
iv. Section 3(1) (b): Definition of Federal Taxes.
While the NASS Certified version defines Federal taxes to include Income Tax, Petroleum income tax, Stamp duties, and VAT, the gazetted version removedPetroleumm income tax and VAT from the definition of taxes under the federal government’s administration. We consider this an affront to the exclusive powers of the National Assembly to make laws.
v. Section 39(3): Currency of Tax Computation.
The illegally altered gazetted Act mandated that tax computations for petroleum operations be made in US Dollars. But in the actual version
passed by the National Assembly, it prescribed tax calculations in the currency of the transaction.
3. Nigerian Revenue Service (Establishment) Act.
(i) Section 30(1) (d), & 30(3): National Assembly Oversight Provisions.
It observed, with “grave concern” that while the authentic version passed by NASS provided that NASS can summon, demand reports or enforce accountability in line with its constitutional role of oversight, the altered gazetted version curiously deleted this provision requiring quarterly and annual reporting to parliament regarding the Nigeria Revenue Services, “in total disregard and disrespect of the institution of the National Assembly and the doctrine of checks and balances, an important bedrock of democracy.”
“Given the anomalies, illegalities, and impunity observed, which clearly undermine the National Assembly’s constitutional powers and democracy, the Committee finds the current evidence sufficient to warrant a deeper investigation. This will ensure accountability for the affront against the legislature. To achieve this, the Committee respectfully requests an extension to conduct a more thorough examination of the matter,” the caucus stated.
