Cross-Border Payments Highlight Tax Compliance Risks in Nigeria

According to Taiwo OYEDO, Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reform, cross-border payments pose the highest tax compliance risk in Nigeria. The implementation of Nigeria's 2025 tax act, effective January 2025, aims to address these challenges by creating a new framework for tax compliance.

The act includes four key pieces of legislation: the Nigeria Tax Act (NTA) 2025, the Nigeria Tax Administration Act (NTAA) 2025, the Nigeria Revenue Service Establishment Act (NRSEA) 2025, and the Joint Revenue Board Establishment Act (JRBEA) 2025. OYEDO announced that Nigeria has entered an agreement with 100 countries to collect data for remote worker tax enforcement.

The act does not create new problems but exposes existing structural issues in business operations, particularly for SMEs. Compliance failures often arise from manual workarounds and a lack of infrastructure.

The complexities of VAT and withholding tax further complicate compliance for businesses operating across multiple jurisdictions.