Nigeria Tax Administration Act, 2025 · Circular 2026/21 ¶7.1
What counts as a taxable event
Selling, swapping, spending and being paid in tokens are all events. Holding is not.
Who this lands on: Anyone transacting in virtual assets.
Buying a token with naira: no income tax, but stamp duty is withheld from the tokens credited to you, and your cost base is set at that moment.
Selling a token for naira: income tax on the gain, withholding tax on the gross proceeds for Categories 1, 3 and 5, and stamp duty borne by whoever receives the token.
Swapping one token for another: treated as a disposal of the first and an acquisition of the second, valued at the dollar market value on the swap date.
Paying for goods or services with a token: a disposal of that token, and VAT applies to the underlying supply exactly as it would if you had paid in cash.
Being paid in tokens — salary, professional fees, business income: taxed on the dollar market value at the date of payment, converted to naira. PAYE or withholding is deducted by a Nigerian payer; where the payer is abroad or does not deduct, you declare it yourself on the annual return.
Mining, staking, DeFi yield, liquidity rewards and airdrops with a real market value: income on the day you get unrestricted control of them, at that day's value — and that same value becomes your cost base.
A gift of tokens is not taxed on the giver; the gain moves to whoever receives them and lands when they dispose of them.
Collateral liquidated on a defaulted DeFi loan is a disposal: proceeds less the cost base of the collateral, at the rate on the liquidation date.