The Kano State government has banned payment of taxes by cash or cheque effective January 1st 2026 to block revenue leakages in the state.

Executive Director, Compliance and Enforcement of the state Internal Revenue Service, KIRS, Muhammad Abba Aliyu said this at a seminar organised by the Kano Chamber of Commerce, Mines, Industries and Agriculture (KACCIMA) on the new tax reforms laws with the theme: “Navigating Nigeria’s New Tax Era: Strategies for Compliance, Profit Protection and Sustainable Business Growth.”

Aliyu said the revenue of one of the state agencies rose from N50 million to N500 million after it deployed technologies in its revenue generation drive.

Therefore, he stated that this necessitated banning payment of taxes by cash or cheque.

The director said under the new tax law, the Nigerian Revenue Services will replace the Federal Inland Revenue Service with added responsibility of collecting taxes on behalf of Federal, States and local government councils. He said individuals or enterprises with gross turnover of N100 million and fixed assets of N250 million are included in the categories of taxable income while companies registered under Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) with gross income of N50 million and fixed assets not exceeding N250 million are considered small scale business in the new Nigerian Tax Act NTA.

A tax expert, Professor Kabiru Isa Dandago in his presentation said the objectives of taxation is income generation for infrastructural development, narrowing  the gap between the rich and the poor as well as economic stabilization.

He noted that the trust deficit in Nigeria is responsible for the negative perceptions of taxes as exploitative and oppressive.

“We need to change the perception of our people that the PRP-led governments abrogated Jangali (Livestock) taxes. The PRP government has never banned personal income tax, companies income tax or petroleum income tax which it has no jurisdiction over. It abrogated only two out of about 30 taxes at the time,” said Dandago.

He said the new tax reforms should be welcomed as citizens in the tax based economies in the developed world prosper, adding that taxes are introduced to check inflationary trends and control the behaviours of consumers, traders, manufacturers and service providers.

KACCIMA President Ambassador Usman Hassan Darma, represented by Hassan Yau, regretted the low turnout of business owners at the workshop to discuss matters that affect them the most.