How to Verify a TIN in Nigeria: JTB and NRS Lookup (2026)

Every Nigerian business is now checking TINs it never used to look at: a new supplier’s, before the first payment; a contractor’s, before deducting withholding tax; its own, when a bank asks. The check is free, takes under a minute, and the result tells you more than whether the number exists.

Where to check

The Joint Tax Board runs the national register for individuals and businesses, and its verification page at tin.jtb.gov.ng covers both state-issued and federally issued numbers. As the Board becomes the Joint Revenue Board the address may change; the NRS site links to the current one. There is no login and no fee.

Three ways to search

1. Choose the search type.
2. Enter the value and the captcha.
3. Read the result: registered name, tax authority (the NRS or a named state revenue service), and status.

Reading the result

• Name matches, status active — the TIN is good. Keep a screenshot with the supplier’s file.
• Name does not match — the number belongs to someone else. Ask for a corrected invoice before paying.
• Tax authority is a state IRS for a limited company — unusual; companies sit with the NRS. Query it.
• No record found — the number is fictitious or mistyped. Try once more character by character, then ask the supplier for their TIN certificate.

When a business should run the check

Before onboarding a supplier

A supplier with no valid TIN cannot issue you a valid VAT invoice, so the 7.5% they charge you is a cost you cannot recover. On ₦5,000,000 of purchases a year that is ₦375,000 lost to a thirty-second check.

Before deducting withholding tax

Withholding tax you deduct is remitted against the payee’s TIN. If the TIN is wrong, the credit never reaches them, you are still liable for the deduction, and the dispute arrives months later. See the withholding tax guide.

On your own invoices

Once a year, verify your own number. Businesses that re-registered after a CAC change, a merger or a name change sometimes carry two TINs, and the one on your invoices should be the one your returns are filed under.

What the portal will not tell you

Verification confirms identity, not compliance. An active TIN does not mean the holder has filed returns or holds a Tax Clearance Certificate; for that you ask for the TCC itself, which the NRS and state services issue annually and which carries its own verification reference.

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This is general information, not tax advice. Portals, forms and thresholds change as the Nigeria Revenue Service and the Joint Revenue Board settle into the new law. Confirm your position with a licensed tax adviser before you rely on it.