If you run a business across multiple Nigerian states, you have likely dealt with overlapping tax demands from different authorities. A company headquartered in Lagos but selling goods in Kano and Rivers could face conflicting assessments and duplicate levies. That fragmented reality shaped the Nigerian tax system for decades.
On June 26, 2025, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu signed four landmark tax reform bills into law, completing the most sweeping fiscal overhaul in decades. One of those laws, the Joint Revenue Board (Establishment) Act 2025, directly targets the coordination failures behind those overlapping burdens.
The JRBEA creates an entirely new institutional framework for harmonizing revenue administration across all three tiers of government. Here is what the Joint Revenue Board does and what it means for you.
How the Joint Revenue Board replaces the Joint Tax Board in Nigeria
The Joint Tax Board was created under Section 86 of the Personal Income Tax Act, focusing on coordinating personal income tax administration across states. Its mandate was limited to promoting uniformity in personal income tax collection and managing the TIN system, and its role remained purely advisory with no enforcement authority, Tunde & Adisa Legal Practitioners noted in their policy analysis of the 2025 reform acts.
The new Joint Revenue Board operates under a fundamentally different mandate. Its scope covers the harmonization and coordination of all revenue administration in Nigeria, encompassing every tax, levy, charge, and revenue stream at federal, state, and local government levels. The JRB’s membership includes the Executive Chairman of the Nigeria Revenue Service as chairman, all 36 state internal revenue service chairmen plus the FCT’s, and representatives from the Ministry of Finance, National Identity Management Commission, Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission, Nigerian Immigration Service, Federal Road Safety Corps, and Nigeria Customs Service, among others, the JRBEA outlines in Section 4.
At the JTB’s 158th meeting in Abuja on December 10, 2025, Chairman Zacch Adedeji addressed the transition.
“The new brand identity represents renewal, transformation, and our collective commitment to excellence in revenue administration,” he said, BusinessDay reported.
How the VAT revenue-sharing formula changes under Nigeria’s new tax laws
One of the most politically charged elements of Nigeria’s tax reform involves VAT revenue distribution. Under the old framework, the federal government received 15%, states received 50%, and local governments received 35%. The new formula reduces the federal share to 10%, increases the state allocation to 55%, and keeps local governments at 35%, Mondaq reported.
The distribution formula for sub-national shares also shifts. VAT revenue will now be distributed based on equality at 50%, population at 20%, and place of consumption at 30%, the Afriwise legal analysis confirmed. That consumption-based component allocates revenue to where goods and services are consumed, not where companies are headquartered.
This change addresses long-standing inequities in VAT distribution. States like Lagos, Rivers, and the FCT previously dominated allocations because corporate headquarters clustered there.
Dispute resolution and taxpayer protection under the JRBEA framework
The JRBEA establishes one new institution and significantly expands another. The first is a restructured Tax Appeal Tribunal with five-member panels empowered to adjudicate disputes arising from both federal and state tax laws, with broader jurisdictional authority across all tax categories.
The second is the Office of the Tax Ombud, a first-of-its-kind body in Nigerian tax legislation. The Ombud functions as a quasi-independent oversight body that can receive and investigate taxpayer complaints, enter tax offices, and resolve disputes through mediation, Tunde & Adisa Legal Practitioners noted. It can also report arbitrary fiscal practices to the National Assembly, Lexology explained.
The JRB also serves as the official referee for residency disputes between states. When more than one state claims the right to collect personal income tax from an individual, the Board determines where that obligation lies.
How multi-state businesses benefit from reduced double taxation risk
Nigeria’s previous tax system created real financial burdens for businesses operating in multiple jurisdictions. Nigeria’s 36 states and the FCT generated ₦3.63 trillion in internally generated revenue during 2024, with Lagos alone accounting for over one-third of that total, the National Bureau of Statistics reported.
Key changes for multi-state businesses under the Joint Revenue Board:
- Unified taxpayer database: The JRB will integrate and maintain a centralized TIN database for every taxable person in Nigeria, eliminating the confusion of multiple identification numbers across jurisdictions.
- Revenue data transparency: The Board will receive, collate, and publish periodic data on tax revenue collected by all authorities, along with information on waivers and exemptions, PwC Nigeria confirmed.
- Double taxation advisory role: The JRB advises government on double taxation matters both within Nigeria and with foreign jurisdictions, reducing cumulative burdens on multi-state businesses.
- Technology integration mandate: The Board must maintain a digital platform for revenue data collection and information exchange among all tax authorities in the country.
Taiwo Oyedele, who chaired the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms before becoming Nigeria’s Finance Minister, noted that businesses officially pay over 60 taxes and levies. The new system aims to reduce that figure to single digits through coordinated administration, Financial Nigeria reported.
What the implementation outlook means for Nigeria’s tax coordination
The stakes for implementation are significant. The NRS collected ₦28.3 trillion in tax revenue during 2025, exceeding its ₦25.2 trillion target, and has set a ₦40.7 trillion target for 2026. Non-oil revenue accounted for ₦21.46 trillion of that total, The Guardian Nigeria reported.
PLAC warned that the biggest risk is the JRB becoming another ceremonial body with limited operational authority. States with strong fiscal positions, particularly Lagos, may view the Board as a centralizing threat to fiscal federalism, an International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science analysis noted.
Mide Alabi, a Lagos-based lawyer, wrote in a Premium Times opinion piece that “The replacement of the JTB with the JRB under Nigeria’s new tax laws is more than a name change.” He emphasized that success depends on implementation, institutional capacity, and legal clarity.
The JRBEA and the Nigeria Revenue Service Establishment Act both took effect on June 26, 2025, giving the relevant institutions time to prepare before the broader tax laws commenced on January 1, 2026.
