By RismadarVoice Media
December 31, 2025
The Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, Mr. Taiwo Oyedele, has assured Nigerians that the new tax laws scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2026, will not permit automatic deductions from personal bank accounts.
Oyedele gave the assurance on Tuesday while speaking on Channels Television’s end-of-year programme, 2025 In Retrospect: Charting a Pathway to 2026.
He dismissed speculations that the government would monitor or debit individuals’ bank accounts under the new tax regime, stressing that the reforms are based strictly on self-declaration rather than direct debits.
“People think the government will debit their bank accounts from next year, how they even came up with that, I have no idea,” Oyedele said.
“Nobody will debit your account for any amount you transfer. Whether it’s one billion naira or one thousand naira, at the end of the year, you tell the government yourself.”
He explained that taxpayers would only be required to declare their income at the end of the tax year, adding that the framework was designed to be simple, transparent, fair.
According to him, individuals are expected to declare what constitutes their income and, where applicable, indicate if they are exempted from tax.
“You know what constitutes your income and what doesn’t. So you tell the government: ‘This is my income and here is the tax.’ If you are exempted, you simply declare: ‘This is my income, and I am exempted from tax,’” he said.
Oyedele further noted that the reforms would benefit small business owners, sole proprietors and individuals earning modest incomes, as the system has been restructured to be progressive, rather than regressive.
“One of the biggest benefits is that if you run a small business as a sole proprietor, an enterprise, or you are just hustling, the system will no longer be regressive, taxing the vulnerable more. We’ve made it progressive,” he added.
