Commercial sex workers’ income taxable under new law, says Taiwo Oyedele

Taiwo Oyedele, chairman of the presidential committee on fiscal policy and tax reforms, says income earned by commercial sex workers will be taxed under the new system.

Oyedele spoke in a video posted on X on Monday, citing examples of taxable income.

The tax expert said the new laws do not distinguish between legitimate and illegitimate sources of income — but focus on whether money was earned from goods or services.

“There is this extreme example… if somebody is doing runs, they go and look for men to sleep with. You know that is a service, they will pay tax on it,” he said.

“One thing about the tax law, it does not separate between whether what you are doing is legitimate or not, it doesn’t even ask you.

“It just asks you whether you have an income. Did you get it from rendering a service or providing a good? Then, you pay tax.”

In contrast, Oyedele said upkeep money sent to relatives, friends or even strangers are considered as gifts and, therefore, not taxable.

“You earn a certain amount of money and you have to send upkeep to your cousin, your brother, even a stranger, it doesn’t really matter. If the amount you are sending is money you are giving to them not because they have done something for you, then it is a gift. We call it a non-exchange transaction. That is not taxable,” Oyedele said.

He added that while the giver of the gift is expected to have already paid tax on their income, recipients are not liable to further tax obligations.

On June 26, President Bola Tinubu signed the four tax reform bills into law.

The laws are the Nigeria Tax Act, the Nigeria tax administration Act, the Nigeria Revenue Service (Establishment) Act, and the Joint Revenue Board (Establishment) Act.

The tax laws, recently gazetted, are scheduled to take effect from January 1, 2026.