PASTORS AND IMAMS MUST PAY TAX ON SALARIES – TAX MASTER

November 25, 2025 • Dons Eze • 1 min read

The Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, Taiwo Oyedele, has clarified that pastors, imams, and other religious workers are liable to pay tax on the salaries they earn from religious institutions.

Speaking on the podcast ‘Mic On’, Oyedele stressed that while churches, mosques, and other religious bodies are exempt from taxation, this exemption does not extend to individuals employed by them.

“So what the law says is that the church and the mosque will not pay tax unless they start doing business as an institution or organization. But anybody they pay, whether it’s the pastor, whether it’s the choir… because these people are just working, it just happens that they are working in God’s vineyard,” he explained.

Dons Eze

DONS EZE, PhD, Political Philosopher and Journalist of over four decades standing, worked in several newspaper houses across the country, and rose to the positions of Editor and General Manager. A UNESCO Fellow in Journalism, Dr. Dons Eze, a prolific writer and author of many books, attended several courses on Journalism and Communication in both Nigeria and overseas, including a Postgraduate Course on Journalism at Warsaw, Poland; Strategic Communication and Practical Communication Approach at RIPA International, London, the United Kingdom, among others.