The Nigerian tax landscape and the agent's role

Nigeria rewrote its tax law in 2025, and everything a tax agent does now runs on the new framework. On 26 June 2025 the President signed four reform acts into law: the Nigeria Tax Act, the Nigeria Tax Administration Act, the Nigeria Revenue Service (Establishment) Act and the Joint Revenue Board (Establishment) Act. They took effect on 1 January 2026, which makes the 2026 tax year the first one filed entirely under the new rules.

The Nigeria Tax Act 2025 is the substantive law. It folds the old Companies Income Tax Act, Personal Income Tax Act, Value Added Tax Act, Capital Gains Tax Act and Stamp Duties Act into a single statute, so questions like what is taxed, who is taxed and at what rate now have one home. For individuals the Act's Fourth Schedule sets the new progressive bands, starting with a zero rate on the first ₦800,000 of annual income and rising to a top marginal rate of 25%. It also introduces rent relief of 20% of annual rent, capped at ₦500,000. For companies the standard rate stays at 30% of profit, but a small company with annual turnover at or below ₦100,000,000 pays 0%. A 4% Development Levy on the assessable profits of larger companies replaces the scatter of earlier earmarked levies. VAT stays at 7.5%, with a wider list of zero-rated essentials.

The Nigeria Tax Administration Act 2025 is the procedure. Registration and Tax IDs, filing windows, assessments, objections, appeals, refunds, enforcement and penalties all live there. A useful habit: when a question is about how much, open the Tax Act; when it is about how, when or what happens if not, open the Administration Act.

The reform also rebuilt the institutions. The Federal Inland Revenue Service became the Nigeria Revenue Service, the federal collection agency. The Joint Tax Board became the Joint Revenue Board, coordinating federal and state authorities, and the framework provides a Tax Appeal Tribunal for disputes and a Tax Ombud to hear taxpayer complaints about the conduct of tax authorities.

Who collects what follows a clean pattern. The NRS collects the company taxes and VAT, and it assesses personal income tax only for a narrow group: non-resident individuals with Nigerian income, members of the armed forces and foreign service officers. Everyone else's personal income tax belongs to the State Internal Revenue Service of the state where they are resident, whether it arrives through PAYE deducted by an employer or through direct assessment of the self-employed. Local governments levy the small stuff: market and shop levies, tenement rates and similar charges. Residence is the anchor: an employee who lives in Nasarawa but works in Abuja pays PAYE to Nasarawa, and confirming a client's state of residence is one of the first things a competent agent does.

The course then places HopperTax inside that landscape. HopperTax prepares returns: it interviews the taxpayer, computes the position under the new law, and produces a return package, which HopperTax then files with the relevant authority. It does not replace the NRS or any state authority. Agents on the platform work from a client roster, prepare individual and company returns, and guide their clients from intake to a filed return. Just as important is what an agent never does: guarantee a refund, invent figures, or prepare a return without the client's recorded authorization.

Part 1 closes with the professional ground rules. Client information is used for the engagement and nothing else. Every figure on a return must trace to a document the client actually provided. And some engagements should be refused: a client who asks you to leave out cash income, presents documents that do not match their identity, or refuses to provide records is a client whose return you do not prepare. The test at the end of the part checks all of this, and passing it unlocks Part 2, where the personal income tax rules are worked in detail.