Customer story
Tax & Compliance
Your 2026 Nigerian Tax Compliance Calendar
Most tax penalties in Nigeria are not for getting the figures wrong. They are for filing late. Here is every 2026 deadline, and which of them apply to you.
8 September 2026 6 min readBy ereQa Team · Editorial team at ereQa
The expensive mistakes in Nigerian tax are rarely arithmetic. They are missed dates — a VAT return forgotten for a quarter, an annual return that slipped past January, a company filing that arrived in July. Penalties for late filing accrue whether or not any tax was owed.
The recurring deadlines
| Obligation | Deadline | Who it applies to |
|---|---|---|
| VAT return and payment | 21st of the following month | VAT-registered businesses |
| PAYE remittance | 10th of the following month | All employers |
| Withholding tax remittance | 21st of the following month | Anyone who deducted WHT |
| Pension remittance | Within 7 working days of payroll | All employers |
The 21st and the 10th are the two dates worth putting on a wall. If you are both an employer and VAT-registered, you have something due in the first three weeks of every month, every month.
The annual deadlines
| Obligation | Deadline | Who it applies to |
|---|---|---|
| Employer annual return (Form H1) | 31 January | All employers |
| Individual self-assessment | 31 March | Self-employed, and employees with other income |
| Company income tax return | 6 months after year end | All companies, including exempt small companies |
| Annual returns to CAC | Within 42 days of the AGM | All registered companies |
Note the third row. Being exempt from tax does not exempt you from filing. A small company that pays no Companies Income Tax still has to submit a return demonstrating that it qualifies. This is the single most common misunderstanding about the new exemption, and it produces penalties for businesses that owed nothing.
A 31 December year end, mapped out
| Month | What is due |
|---|---|
| January | VAT by 21st · PAYE by 10th · employer annual return by 31st |
| February | VAT by 21st · PAYE by 10th |
| March | VAT by 21st · PAYE by 10th · individual self-assessment by 31st |
| April – May | VAT by 21st · PAYE by 10th |
| June | VAT by 21st · PAYE by 10th · company income tax return by 30th |
| July – December | VAT by 21st · PAYE by 10th |
What late filing actually costs
Penalties are set by statute and revised periodically, so check the current figures with the NRS or your adviser rather than relying on a number in a blog post. The structure, though, is consistent and worth understanding:
- An initial penalty for the first month of default.
- A smaller penalty for each subsequent month the default continues.
- Interest on unpaid tax, running separately from the filing penalty.
- Penalties for failure to file apply even where the tax due is nil.
Because the monthly component compounds, the difference between filing a week late and six months late is not proportional — it is much worse than it looks.
Making the dates survivable
- Put the 10th and the 21st in a recurring calendar, with a reminder three days before rather than on the day.
- Reconcile monthly, not annually. A year of unreconciled transactions in June is how June filings get missed.
- Keep VAT collected visible as a separate figure so the payment on the 21st is never a surprise.
- File nil returns. They take minutes and remove an entire category of penalty.
- Keep the evidence for every relief you claim, filed at the time rather than reconstructed later.
ereQa keeps invoices, VAT and expenses in one place so the figures the NRS wants are already there when the return is due. Start free →
This is general information, not tax advice. Thresholds and reliefs turn on facts specific to your business, and the Nigeria Revenue Service issues clarifications as the Act beds in. Confirm your position with a licensed tax adviser before you file.
Frequently Asked Questions
When is VAT due in Nigeria?
By the 21st day of the month following the month of supply. It is monthly, so there are twelve deadlines a year, and penalties accrue per month of delay.
When must employers remit PAYE?
By the 10th day of the month following the deduction, to the State Internal Revenue Service of the state where each employee is resident.
When is the employer annual return due?
By 31 January, covering all emoluments paid in the preceding year.
When is my company income tax return due?
Within six months of your accounting year end. A 31 December year end means a 30 June filing date.
When do individuals file self-assessment?
By 31 March for the preceding year, with the State Internal Revenue Service where you are resident.
eT
ereQa Team
Editorial team at ereQa
Written by the people who build ereQa, with Nigerian tax content checked against the Nigeria Tax Act 2025 and the NRS guidance current at publication. General information, not tax advice.
Learn more
Ready to put this into practice?
Try ereQa free — no card required. Most users send their first invoice in under 10 minutes.
Start free →