The Senate has passed the remaining two tax reform bills, the Joint Revenue Board establishment bill 2025 and the Nigeria Tax bill 2025, after a clause-by-clause consideration during the Committee of the Whole and subsequent third reading on the Senate floor.
Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, who also constituted a conference committee to ensure harmonisation of the process, stated that this feat marks the first time Nigeria would have a set of modernised tax acts.
In Wednesday’s plenary, lawmakers deliberated on the reports of the four executive-sponsored tax bills, successfully passing two and deferring the remaining two to Thursday.
However, all the bills have now been passed.
The bills include the Joint Revenue Board Establishment Bill, the Nigeria Revenue Service Establishment Bill, the Nigeria Tax Administration Bill, and the Nigeria Tax Bill.
“These four executive bills seek to transform and modernise the tax system in Nigeria,” the Senate stated during the session.
Earlier, Akpabio said the Senate will set up a committee to harmonise its decision on the bills with the version passed by the House of Representatives in March. Once harmonised, the unified bills will be transmitted to President Bola Tinubu for assent.
The bills will be forwarded to President Tinubu for his assent.
On the distribution of VAT revenue, the Nigeria Tax Administration Bill proposed 15 per cent for the Federal Government, 50 per cent for the states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), and 35 per cent for the local governments.
However, the committee recommended a new distribution of 10 per cent to the Federal Government, 55 per cent to the states and the FCT, and 35 per cent to the local governments.
For the distribution of the VAT revenue meant for states, the committee recommended that 50 per cent should be shared equally among all the states, 20 per cent should be shared based on the population of each state and 30 per cent based on the place of consumption of the goods and services from where the VAT was raised.
