How far back NRS and KRA can assess
How many years back the NRS or KRA can raise an assessment, why that should shape what a firm keeps, and how retention and legal holds work in Achekam.
By Achekam · · 4 min read · For Accountants & audit firms in Nigeria, Kenya
A tax authority's letter about a year the firm worked on long ago is one of the more uncomfortable things to land on a partner's desk. The client expects the firm to explain the figures. The staff who prepared them have moved on. And the question is whether the working papers still exist.
How far back the NRS or KRA can reach sets the minimum period for which the evidence behind a return must survive. This article sets out the limits in each country, the gaps in what is known, and how to make sure the records that matter are still there when the letter arrives.
Nigeria: six years for assessments and refunds
The NRS can raise additional assessments within 6 years, and a refund must be claimed within 6 years.
The two limits cut both ways. The NRS can look back that far at a client's returns, and the client can look back that far for overpaid tax. A firm advising a Nigerian client on either side needs the computation, the source schedules and the evidence of filing and payment for every year still inside the window.
Kenya: five years, except for fraud
KRA cannot raise assessments more than 5 years back, except in cases of fraud.
The exception matters. Where KRA alleges fraud, the ordinary limit does not protect the client, and the evidence that would answer the allegation may be older than five years. A firm should not dispose of records for a client under investigation simply because the ordinary period has passed.
The consolidated Tax Procedures Act on Kenya Law covers PIN registration, record-keeping in section 23, electronic tax invoices, assessments, objections, tax compliance certificates and penalties, and it is where the current provisions can be read.
No general record period in the research
The research behind Achekam's Nigerian and Kenyan packs does not state a general record-keeping period for either country. That is a gap to fill from the law itself, not by assumption.
Until a firm has settled its own policy, a sensible floor is the assessment window, plus enough time to deal with an assessment raised at the very end of it, including any objection and appeal. Achekam computes objection and appeal deadlines for Nigerian and Kenyan assessments from the approved administration rule, and its filing calendar leaves out any deadline whose rule is awaiting approval or contested, saying why. The objection periods themselves are explained in objecting to a tax assessment in Nigeria or Kenya.
One related point on Achekam's side: until Nigerian and Kenyan retention policies exist, Achekam keeps Nigerian and Kenyan till records for South Africa's seven-year retention period. That covers till records, not the firm's working papers, but it shows the same caution: keep longer when the local period is not settled.
Retention and legal holds in Achekam
For the records Achekam governs, disposal is deliberately difficult. Achekam disposes of a governed record only after its retention period has ended and no legal hold applies, with three different people requesting, reviewing and approving. The disposal certificate keeps proof of the disposal but not the content.
The legal hold is the tool for the cases the ordinary window does not cover:
- an NRS or KRA audit or investigation is opened for a client;
- an assessment is raised and an objection or appeal is under way;
- fraud is alleged, in Kenya removing the ordinary limit;
- a refund claim is pending.
Place the hold when the event happens, over the client's returns, working papers and correspondence for the years concerned, and record why. Record Governance keeps a log of changes to governed records showing who did what, when and with what result. Putting client records under a legal hold explains how holds work alongside the three-person disposal rule.
Working papers to keep
For each Nigerian or Kenyan return, an assessment years later is answered with the file. Make sure the file contains:
| Record | Why it matters later |
|---|---|
| The approved return and its rule snapshot | Shows what was computed, and under which rules |
| Any amended versions, with reasons | Shows what changed and why |
| Source sales and purchase schedules | Supports every figure in the computation |
| The portal's filing receipt | Proves the return was filed, and when |
| Payment receipts with the authority's reference | Proves the tax was paid |
| The client's approval | Shows the client agreed the figures |
Achekam helps with several of these. An approved return's rule snapshot and figures are frozen, and an amendment is a new version, so nothing is overwritten. Tax payments are recorded with the authority's own reference and receipt, an RRR or DIN in Nigeria or a PRN in Kenya, and a second person confirms each one. Keep the rest, especially the source schedules, in the client's file where they can be found years later.
Think also about people, not only paper. An assessment raised near the end of the window may concern work by staff who have long left. A short memo on each return, explaining any unusual figure or judgement in plain words, lets a different partner answer the authority's questions without guessing. Write it when the return is approved, while the reasoning is fresh, and keep it with the rule snapshot.
A review of what you hold
Pick one Nigerian or Kenyan client and check that the file for each year inside the assessment window contains everything in the table above. Where something is missing, find it now, while the people who know where it is are still with the firm.
General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.
