Zacch Adedeji, chairman of the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS), says individuals spreading rumours about Nigeria’s new tax laws are largely tax avoiders.
Adedeji spoke during an interview on Arise TV monitored by Chronicle NG on Sunday.
He addressed issues bordering on the significance of bank transfer narrations in the tax regime, describing the alleged taxation of personal transfers as misinformation.
“Nobody will look for narration,” the chairman said.
“Those people you see promoting all these rumours, and misinformation, are those people that are avoiding taxes.”
The NRS chairman said transfers between individuals, including transfers to family members, are not subject to any form of monitoring by tax authorities.
“No tax authority, whether state or federal, will go and pry into your bank account to check who transferred what. It was not in the old law and it can’t be in the new law,” he added.
“Narration or whatever, it is just misinformation, there is nothing about that in the tax law.”
Adedeji also addressed complaints about deductions on bank transfers, saying recent changes have actually reduced charges.
According to the NRS chairman, under the previous system, stamp duties were deducted from both the sender and the receiver, but this has now changed.
“Before, when you do a transfer, both the person receiving and the person paying were charged. Today, it is only the payer that pays stamp duty,” he said.
He further clarified that many of the tax-related complaints raised by the public fall under the jurisdiction of state internal revenue services.
“For the federal government, through the Federal Inland Revenue Service, we collect corporate taxes,” Adedeji said.
“Many of the complaints people talk about are actually issues at the state level.”
The NRS boss noted that ongoing reforms have prompted many states to domesticate the Nigeria Tax Act, 2025, in order to address such concerns and eliminate multiple taxation.
He said the goal of the reforms is to promote prosperity among Nigerians, stressing that government revenue grows only when citizens and businesses thrive.
