"Under This New Tax Law From Next Year, We Can Debit Your Bank Account" – FG Reminds Nigerians
By: Israel Adeleke
OPEN TELEVISION NAIJA (OTN) News reports as gathered that as the new year is approaching, the federal government of Nigeria has shed more light on how Nigeria’s incoming tax intelligence framework will monitor financial behaviour to identify tax evasion, a move set to prepare the minds of all Nigerians to get ready for the new phase which will commence from 2026.
OTN News further reports as gathered that the Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Tax Reforms, Taiwo Oyedele, who disclosed this while speaking on The Micon Podcast, explained that the new system will aggregate multiple data points to build a clearer picture of individuals’ financial activities.
According to him, this is the whole essence of the intelligence we are trying to piece together. What happens in your bank account, when you travel abroad, how you use your payment card, electricity, your phone. All those information, will help in this new policy.
Oyedele further stated that, once the system validates a person’s financial footprint and identifies inconsistencies, authorities will be able to detect whether taxes have been duly paid.
“By the time the system validates what you’re doing, we will be able to know if you have not paid tax. If you cannot explain yourself, and your tax is 1 million, under this new tax law from next year, if you have a bank account, we can debit your bank account,” he added.
Subsequently, Oyedele stressed that, the government is not targeting low-income earners or small financial discrepancies.
“By the way, you know government will not go after you if you earn 50k and you spend 90k. They are not looking for those kind of small money. It’s not worth it. So it’s usually those big numbers," he added.
He, however, concluded by stressing that the improved framework reflects a new professional approach to tax enforcement, moving the country away from crude, forceful methods, a shift, he said, from “using hammers and nails to chase people for tax.”
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