Checking a supplier's Nigeria Tax ID before you pay
Why a Nigerian business should confirm a supplier's Tax ID before awarding work or paying, how to check it, and what Achekam does and does not verify.
By Achekam · · 5 min read · For Running a business businesses in Nigeria
A new supplier sends a quotation that beats everyone else's. The goods are needed next week, the paperwork looks tidy, and somebody in the office is ready to raise the order. The one field nobody checks properly is the supplier's Tax ID, and in Nigeria that small number now carries real weight.
It appears on the returns you file when you withhold tax from the supplier. It decides whether you have awarded a contract to an unregistered person. And it is the first thing that goes wrong when a supplier's records are sloppy. This article explains why the check matters, what "validating" a Tax ID means according to the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS), and how far Achekam can help.
Why the supplier's Tax ID ends up on your returns
When you deduct tax at source from a supplier's payment, the supplier's Tax ID travels with it. The NRS says a person who deducts tax at source must file a return with evidence of remittance showing, for each payee, the name and address, Tax ID, NIN or RC number, nature of transaction, gross amount, tax deducted and the calendar month the payment relates to. The wider rules on when to deduct are in withholding tax on supplier payments.
If you are an appointed VAT withholding agent, the same applies to VAT. The NRS says an appointed agent files a separate return for VAT withheld on or before the 14th day of the following month, with a schedule showing each supplier's name, Tax ID and address, the invoice number, gross invoice amount, VAT amount and the month the return relates to.
A wrong Tax ID on either schedule means the supplier may not receive credit for tax you deducted and paid over, and the query comes back to you. The NRS also says a Tax ID must be quoted accurately on all tax forms, payments and correspondence with tax authorities.
The penalty for awarding a contract to an unregistered person
Under the Nigeria Tax Administration Act, 2025, every taxable person must register with the relevant tax authority and obtain a Taxpayer Identification (Tax ID). The same Act makes a statutory body or company that awards a contract to a person who is not registered liable to an administrative penalty of N5,000,000.
That penalty falls on the business that awards the work, not on the supplier. For a company, checking registration before the contract is signed is far cheaper than explaining afterwards why it did not.
What "validating" a Tax ID means
Since 1 January 2026, Nigeria issues a 13-digit Tax ID that replaces previously issued TINs, retrieved through the joint portals run by the Joint Revenue Board and the NRS. Companies retrieve theirs with their CAC registration number; individuals use their NIN.
The NRS says validating a Tax ID means checking that the number exists in the official records and matches the right personal or business details. A 13-digit number that belongs to someone else is not a valid Tax ID for your supplier. The NRS sets out how to retrieve a Tax ID, and why it should be validated, on its Tax ID page.
In practice, validation for a supplier means three things: the number exists, the name it returns matches the name on the supplier's invoice and bank account, and you have kept a record of having checked.
What Achekam checks, and what it cannot
Achekam is honest about its limit here. Where it takes a Nigeria Tax ID, it checks only that the number has 13 digits. It cannot confirm the number with the authority, because the research behind it found no public Tax ID verification service. The user retrieves the Tax ID on the portal and records the evidence. Two related details: a CAC number is reduced to its digits and never length-checked, and a NIN is not accepted as a Tax ID.
On the purchasing side, a business keeps one supplier list in Achekam, with duplicate checks by name or VAT number, and quotations, orders and bills pick suppliers from that list. That stops the same supplier being created twice under slightly different names, which is a common route to double payment. There is a gap to know about: the supplier's VAT-number field currently expects a South African format, so a Nigerian VAT number is refused there. Keep the supplier's Tax ID and the evidence of your portal check in the supplier's file instead. Achekam's Document Centre is a folder-based store where you can upload the portal screenshot, tag it and keep later versions.
When suppliers compete on quotes, Achekam captures each quotation against a purchase requisition. Choosing one that is not the cheapest needs a written reason that is kept, and a quotation can be disqualified with a reason. An unverifiable Tax ID is exactly that kind of reason, written down where an auditor will find it.
The 13-digit check is not the end of the job
A length check catches typing mistakes, not false numbers. A supplier who quotes an old TIN, a NIN, or another company's Tax ID can still pass a simple format test. So keep the portal result itself: the date you checked, the name the portal returned and the number. If the NRS or an auditor later asks how you satisfied yourself that the supplier was registered, that record is the answer.
Check again when something changes. The Act requires a change in a taxpayer's particulars to be notified within 30 days, and a supplier that changes its name, merges or moves may have records that no longer line up with yours.
Readers who also buy from Kenya will find the equivalent check described in Kenyan tax IDs and the KRA PIN.
Supplier onboarding checklist
Before the first order:
- Ask for the Tax ID in writing, with the CAC registration number for a company.
- Retrieve it on the Tax ID portal and confirm the name returned matches the invoice and bank account names.
- Save the evidence: date of check, name returned, number, who checked.
- Search your supplier list for the same name before adding a new one.
- Record the quotation against the requisition, with a reason if you do not choose the cheapest.
- Hold the contract until registration is confirmed.
Before each payment:
- Use the same Tax ID on your withholding tax and withheld-VAT schedules.
- Recheck when the supplier changes its name, bank details or address.
That small effort per supplier is the cheapest insurance a buying office has.
General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.
