VAT revenue rises 34% to N6.4 trn in 9 months
VAT Revenue Increases by 34% to N6.4 Trillion in First Nine Months of 2025
By Elizabeth Adegbesan
The revenue generated from Value Added Tax (VAT) increased by 34% year-on-year, reaching N6.4 trillion in the first nine months of 2025, up from N4.77 trillion in the same period of 2024, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
While the overall trend shows growth, the second quarter of 2025 saw a decline of 1.4%, with VAT revenues totaling N2.03 trillion, compared to N2.06 trillion in the first quarter of the year. However, VAT collections rebounded in the third quarter, rising by 10.66% to N2.28 trillion.
In its recent report, the NBS noted that the VAT figure for the third quarter of 2025 represented a quarter-on-quarter increase from N2.06 trillion in the second quarter. The breakdown of VAT revenue for the third quarter included N1.12 trillion from local payments, N680.23 billion from foreign VAT, and N479.79 billion from import VAT.
Sector analysis revealed notable growth rates in various industries. Administrative and support service activities led with an increase of 89.28%. This was followed by arts, entertainment, and recreation at 82.49%, and human health and social work activities, which grew by 32.4%. Conversely, real estate activities recorded the lowest growth rate at -51.33%, with households as employers declining by 36.22% and other service activities down 20.3%.
The manufacturing sector accounted for the largest share of VAT contributions in the third quarter, making up 25.89% of the total. It was followed by information and communication at 18.77%, and mining and quarrying at 14.85%. In contrast, activities of households as employers represented a mere 0.003%, with activities of extraterritorial organizations and water supply services each contributing 0.03%.
Year-on-year comparisons showed that VAT collections in the third quarter of 2025 grew by 28.1% compared to the same quarter in 2024.
