Nigerian tax law, in plain English

Every taxable person registers — whether or not any tax turns out to be due.

One Tax ID per person or business, issued on registration, used on everything and never passed to anyone else.

A VAT return is due on or before the 21st of the following month, trading or not. Small businesses are exempt unless they opt in.

Every company self-assesses once a year — within six months of its accounting year end.

Every taxable individual files a return each year, without waiting to be asked.

An employer files one return of all staff pay for the previous year by 31 January.

If you withhold tax when you pay a supplier, you file monthly returns for it.

Surcharge, virtual assets, priority companies, incentives, bank information and tax-planning disclosure.

Everyone keeps books, in English, good enough to work the tax out — and keeps them for at least six years.

A return only counts as filed if you filed it yourself or an accredited tax agent filed it for you.

Your return is your assessment — but the authority can accept it, add to it, or replace it with its own judgement.

Tax is assessed in the currency of the transaction, and paid in that currency.

You have 30 days from service of the notice to object, in writing, with your figures.

Tax is paid on or before the filing due date — in one go, or in instalments that finish by then.

Overpaid tax is refunded after an audit; VAT refunds have their own route.

Issued within two weeks of your asking, covering three years — and demanded for contracts, land and licences.

The tax authority can disregard an arrangement made mainly for a tax benefit — and the tax can follow the people running the business.

Call for your books, enter premises, remove documents, appoint a third party to pay, distrain, or investigate.

Unpaid tax carries 10%, plus interest from the due date until it is paid. Penalties can be remitted for good reason.

₦50,000 for the first month, ₦25,000 for each month after.

₦100,000 for the first month, ₦50,000 for each month after.

₦50,000 for a company, ₦10,000 for anyone else.

40% of the amount you should have deducted.

The money is still owed, plus 10% a year and interest — and it can end in a prosecution.

₦100,000 to ₦1,000,000 on the first day, then ₦10,000 for every further day.

Taxable supplies must go through the VAT fiscalisation system: ₦200,000 plus 100% of the tax and interest if they do not.

₦100,000 for the first month, ₦50,000 for each month after.

A false refund claim costs 50% (100% for VAT) plus interest; a false declaration is ₦1,000,000 and can be prosecuted.

₦1,000,000 where the Act sets no specific penalty.

₦1,000,000 for a return that leaves out the attribution the Act asks for.

An unstamped dutiable instrument carries 10% of the duty, plus interest.

Obstruction carries ₦1,000,000, and a fine or up to three years on conviction.

Every taxable supply of goods or services in Nigeria carries VAT at 7.5% of the value.

Input VAT on services and fixed assets is deductible, as long as the spend was for making taxable supplies.

Exempt supplies are outside VAT — you do not charge it, and you cannot reclaim the VAT on what you bought to make them.

Basic food, medical, education, exports and more are taxable at 0% — so you charge nothing but can still reclaim your input VAT.

A small company pays nothing; every other company pays 30% of total profits.

Very large companies must pay at least 15% of net income, whatever their reliefs.

A 4% levy on assessable profits, charged alongside company income tax.

The first ₦800,000 of taxable income is taxed at 0%, then 15%, 18%, 21%, 23% and 25% on the slices above it.

Pension, housing fund, health insurance, life assurance, mortgage interest, and 20% of rent paid capped at ₦500,000.

Private spend, capital spend, depreciation, fines and tax borne for someone else are all outside the profit computation.

Qualifying capital spend is relieved through capital allowances against the profits it helped make.

A loss is deducted from the same trade that made it, carried forward year after year until it is fully used.

Gains on disposing of property, shares, foreign currency and digital assets are chargeable, with a relief for smaller share disposals.

If your business buys, sells, holds or is paid in crypto, the circular reaches you — not only exchanges.

What you hold decides whether tax is withheld at source and how the gain is measured.

Selling, swapping, spending and being paid in tokens are all events. Holding is not.

Holding, moving between your own wallets, staking, minting, wrapping — none of these are taxed.

Naira falling in value is not a profit. The gain is measured in dollars, then converted once.

First in, first out unless you elect weighted average at the start — and you cannot switch later.

Whoever receives the token bears it, it is taken in tokens, and the cash side is untouched.

1% withheld on disposal proceeds, 10% on rewards, 1.5% stamp duty, 7.5% VAT on fees.

Gains and losses net off across the year — but virtual-asset losses only ever meet virtual-asset gains.

Withheld tax and duty move in the token itself; naira only appears once, on the annual return.

The familiar filing penalties, plus 40% for failing to deduct and ₦10,000,000 a month for a non-compliant provider.

Virtual asset service providers file their own returns; non-compliance runs to ₦10,000,000 a month.

Estimated and actual returns, monthly and annual royalty returns, computations in US dollars, and penalties in the millions per day.

Monthly royalty returns; unpaid royalty becomes a debt after 30 days with 10% and compound interest.

Monthly returns from non-resident shipping and airline companies.

Federal tax to the national service, personal and staff taxes to your state, and some charges to your local government.

Tax officials must keep taxpayer information secret; unauthorised disclosure is an offence.

You can ask for a binding ruling before you do the transaction.

Some offences can be compounded, and disputes can be settled.

The Service can deploy technology at your premises, run a single window portal, and have government deduct tax before it pays you.