Section 15 Nigeria Tax Act 2025

Section 15 of the Nigeria Tax Act 2025 is about Partnership of individuals. It provides as follows:

(1) The gains or profits of a partner from a partnership shall be the sum of –

(a) any remuneration, interest on capital, cost of passages wholly or mainly undertaken for the purpose of leave or recreation, or any other perquisite or benefits in kind which is charged to the partnership accounts in respect of that partner; and

(b) the partner’s share in the profits of the partnership, computed in accordance with Chapter two of this Act, after the deduction of charges to which paragraph (a) applies in respect of all the partners:

Provided that in arriving at the gains or profits of a partnership, private or domestic expense of a partner shall not be deducted.

(2) Where the income computed under subsection (1) (b) results in a loss for the partnership, the partner’s share of the loss shall be deducted from the gains or profits ascertained under the provisions of subsection (1) (a) and the partner shall be deemed to have incurred a loss in the trade or business of the partnership to the extent, if any, by which the deductible share of loss exceeds those gains or profits.

(3) For the purpose of subsection (1), a partner’s share of the partnership’s profits or losses shall be determined in the proportion specified in the partnership agreement as if the entire profits or losses were distributed among the partners, and where there is no partnership agreement, the profits or loss of the partnership shall be distributed equally among the partners:

Provided that any person, whether resident or non-resident, who shares in the
profits of a Nigerian partnership shall file returns in his name and pay the applicable tax.

(4) The gains, profits or losses of a partner for any period, ascertained under this section, shall be deemed, for the purposes of Chapter Two of this Act, to be the partner’s income or loss from a trade, business, profession or vocation carried on during that period, and the provisions of section 20 of this Act shall not apply.

(5) The determination of the profits or losses that is attributable to a partner from a partnership shall be made by the relevant tax authority in relation to that partnership, and where any partner is taxable for a year of assessment in the territory of another relevant tax authority, the relevant tax authority in relation to that partnership shall make available to that other tax authority, particulars of the determination of profits or losses.

(6) The income of a partner from a partnership in Nigeria shall be attributable to relevant territories in Nigeria in accordance with the Twelfth Schedule to this Act.

(7) The partner, employee or agent in charge of the principal office or place of business of a partnership in Nigeria shall, without notice or demand, register or cause to be registered with the relevant tax authority, a certified copy of the partnership deed or, where no written deed is in existence, particulars of any written or oral agreement under which the partnership exists, and where any such particulars have been registered, a notice of any change in the agreement shall be registered with that tax authority within 30 days of the change.

(8) Where the particulars of a partnership have been registered under the provisions of subsection (7), the computation of the gains or profits of a partner, may be made by the relevant tax authority on the basis of those
particulars as they apply at any relevant time.

(9) Where the particulars of a partnership are not registered, in compliance with subsection (7), tax may be assessed and charged by the relevant tax authority as though the whole gains or profits of such partnership accrued to any individual partner or were divisible between the partners, as may appear just and reasonable to that tax authority.