Nigeria recorded significant growth in non-oil tax revenues in the first nine months of 2025, with Value Added Tax (VAT) and Company Income Tax (CIT) collections posting strong year-on-year increases.
VAT
Figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) show that VAT revenue climbed by 34 per cent to N6.4 trillion in 9M’25, compared to N4.77 trillion in the same period of 2024.
On a quarterly basis, performance reflected slight fluctuations but an overall upward trend. VAT collections dipped marginally by 1.4 per cent to N2.03 trillion in Q2’25 from N2.06 trillion in Q1’25. However, revenue rebounded in Q3’25, rising by 10.66 per cent quarter-on-quarter to N2.28 trillion. Year-on-year, VAT in Q3’25 expanded by 28.1 per cent.
A breakdown of Q3’25 collections shows that local VAT generated N1.12 trillion, foreign VAT contributed N680.23 billion, while import VAT stood at N479.79 billion.
Sectoral performance revealed strong expansion in Administrative and Support Services, which recorded the highest quarter-on-quarter growth of 89.28 per cent. Arts, Entertainment and Recreation followed with 82.49 per cent, while Human Health and Social Work grew by 32.4 per cent. In contrast, the Real Estate sector experienced the sharpest contraction at –51.33 per cent. Manufacturing accounted for the largest share of VAT contributions at 25.89 per cent, followed by Information and Communication at 18.77 per cent, and Mining and Quarrying at 14.85 per cent.
Company Income Tax also showed remarkable improvement, increasing by 48 per cent to N7.72 trillion in 9M’25, up from N5.22 trillion recorded in 9M’24.
Quarterly data indicated that CIT stood at N1.98 trillion in Q1’25, rose sharply by 40 per cent to N2.78 trillion in Q2’25, and edged up by 5.7 per cent to N2.96 trillion in Q3’25. The Q3 performance represented a 67.19 per cent year-on-year increase.
Further details show that domestic CIT payments in Q3’25 totalled N1.21 trillion, while foreign CIT payments amounted to N1.75 trillion, highlighting the strong role of foreign-sourced earnings in overall tax revenue
