VAT revenue rises 34% to N6.4 trn in 9 months

2026-03-03 - 13:38

By Elizabeth Adegbesan Revenue from Value Added Tax, VAT grew year-on-year (YoY) by 34 percent to N6.4 trillion in the first nine months of 2025 (9m’25) from N4.77 trillion in the corresponding period of 2026. Vanguard trend analysis of data from the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, VAT report showed that in the second quarter of Q2’25 VAT declined by 1.4 percent to N2.03 trillion from N2.06 trillion in Q1’25. In Q3’25, VAT increased by 10.66 percent to N2.28 trillion. In its latest VAT report, NBS, said: “VAT in Q3’25 was N2.28 trillion, showing an increase of 10.66 percent on a quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) basis from N2.06 trillion in Q2 2025. “Local payments stood at N1.12 trillion, Foreign VAT Payments were N680.23 billion, while import VAT contributed N479.79 billion in Q3 2025. “On a quarter-on-quarter basis, Administrative and support service activities recorded the highest growth rate with 89.28 percent; followed by Arts, entertainment and recreation with 82.49 percent; and Human health and social work activities with 32.4 percent. “On the other hand, Real estate activities had the lowest growth rate with –51.33 percent, followed by Activities of households as employers, undifferentiated goods- and services-producing activities of households for own use with –36.22 percent; and Other ser-vice activities with –20.3 percent. “In terms of sectoral contributions, the top three activities with the largest shares in Q3 2025 were Manufacturing with 25.89 percent; Information and communication with 18.77 percent; and Mining and quarrying with 14.85 percent. “Conversely, activities of households as employers, undifferentiated goods- and services-producing activities of households for own use recorded the lowest share with 0.003 percent, followed by activities of extraterritorial organizations and bodies; and Water supply, sewerage, waste management with 0.03 percent each. “However, on a year-on-year basis, VAT collections in Q3 2025 increased by 28.1 percent from Q3 2024.”