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 involve automatic deductions from personal bank accounts.

Oyedele gave the assurance on Tuesday during Channels Television’s end-of-year programme, 2025 In Retrospect: Charting a Pathway to 2026, dismissing widespread claims that the government plans to monitor or debit individual bank accounts.

According to him, the tax reforms are built on a self-declaration system, not direct debits.

“People think the government will debit their bank accounts from next year, and how they even came up with that, I have no idea. Nobody will debit your account for any amount you transfer. Whether it’s a billion naira or one thousand naira, at the end of the year, you tell the government yourself,” he said.

Oyedele explained that taxpayers would simply declare their income at the end of the tax year, adding that the framework was deliberately designed to be simple, transparent, and fair, particularly for individuals, small business owners, and low-income earners.

“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.’ It is a very simple process that we are simplifying further,” he stated.

He added that one of the major benefits of the reforms is the introduction of a progressive tax system that protects vulnerable Nigerians.

“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,” Oyedele said.

Meanwhile, President Bola Tinubu has reaffirmed that the implementation of the new tax laws, including those enacted on June 26, 2025, and others scheduled to commence on January 1, 2026, will proceed as planned.

According to an earlier report by PUNCH Online, the President described the reforms as “a once-in-a-generation opportunity to build a fair, competitive, and robust fiscal foundation” for Nigeria.

Tinubu clarified that the laws are not designed to increase taxes but to drive a structural reset, promote harmonisation, protect citizens’ dignity, and strengthen the social contract. 

He urged stakeholders to support the implementation phase, noting that the reforms are now “firmly in the delivery stage” and that no substantial issue has emerged to justify halting the process.