The Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS) has dismissed the reported imposition of value-added tax (VAT) on banking services, including electronic money transfer, fees and commissions, describing the claims as misleading.
In a statement made available issued yesterday, the NRS said VAT has always applied to banking services and is not newly-introduced under the new law (the Nigeria Tax Act).
The statement signed by the Special Adviser on Media to the NRS Chairman, Dare Adekanmbi, explained that the Nigeria Tax Act neither introduced VAT on banking charges nor did it impose any new tax obligation on customers.
“The NRS wishes to address and correct misleading narratives circulating in sections of the media suggesting that VAT has been newly introduced on banking services, fees, commissions or electronic money transfers.
“VAT has always applied to fees, commissions and charges for services rendered by banks and other financial institutions under Nigeria’s long-established VAT regime. The Nigeria Tax Act did not introduce VAT on banking charges, nor did it impose any new tax obligation on customers in this regard.
“The NRS urges members of the public and all stakeholders to disregard misinformation and to rely exclusively on official communications for accurate, authoritative, and up-to-date tax information,” the statement said.
Meanwhile, Chairman of the Presidential Tax Reform Committee, Taiwo Oyedele, said the issuance of guidelines for implementing the new tax laws has been delayed due to uncertainty over the final gazetted version.
Speaking in Lagos on Wednesday during the 2026 Economic Outlook organised by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), Oyedele said he told the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS) and the Joint Revenue Board (JRB) to hold on to the implementation, explaining that guidelines for implementing the tax laws cannot be issued until the final version is concluded.
“Our plan in an ideal world was for all these regulations, guidelines and public notices to be ready like three months before December because we wanted people to give their feedback, debate it, finalise and gazette,” he said.
He said more than 40 regulations, guidelines and public notices have been finalised, but not one would be released until the controversy around the gazetted version is resolved.
