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By Henry Uche
The Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN) has vowed to clamp down on unqualified tax practitioners after the Court of Appeal, Lagos Division, affirmed its statutory authority to regulate the tax profession in Nigeria.
The judgment, delivered on July 15, 2026, dismissed an appeal filed in 2019 by Chief Afolabi Igbaroola and others against the Federal Inland Revenue Service (now the Nigeria Revenue Service), CITN and other parties.
In a statement signed by the Registrar and Chief Executive of CITN, Afolake Oke, the Institute said the Court of Appeal upheld the earlier judgment of the Federal High Court, Lagos, which had dismissed the plaintiffs’ claims and affirmed CITN’s exclusive regulatory powers over tax practice.
According to the Institute, the ruling reinforces a series of court decisions delivered over nearly two decades recognising taxation as a profession distinct from accountancy and confirming CITN as the only body empowered by law to regulate tax practice in Nigeria.
CITN recalled that the Lagos High Court ruled in 2007 that taxation is a separate profession from accountancy and that only the Institute has the legal authority to regulate tax practice. That decision was upheld by the Court of Appeal in 2013, while a subsequent appeal to the Supreme Court was withdrawn by the appellants in 2015.
The Institute also noted that the Federal High Court, in 2019, ruled that members of other professional bodies, including the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), must first become members of CITN before practising as tax practitioners.
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The court further declared Regulation 5 of the Tax Administration (Self-Assessment) Regulations 2011, which allowed members of ICAN, CITN and the Association of National Accountants of Nigeria (ANAN) to file tax returns on behalf of clients, null and void because it conflicted with the CITN Act. The Court of Appeal has now affirmed that position.
The case stemmed from a 2018 directive by the tax authority recognising only tax returns bearing the official CITN stamp and seal for filing by tax practitioners.
Reacting to the latest judgment, CITN said it would soon provide stakeholders with details of the implications of the ruling.
The Institute also warned individuals who are not its members but continue to offer tax services to regularise their status.
“The Institute remains committed to upholding its mandate in the Nigerian tax system and will continue to collaborate with well-meaning stakeholders in fulfilling this mandate.
“Non-members of CITN who still purport to practise taxation are hereby urged to do the needful. The Institute will, in due course, take pragmatic steps to weed out quacks from the tax system,” the statement said.
