Nigeria Tax ID and KRA PIN: what is checked
What the Nigeria Tax ID and the KRA PIN are, the limited checks Achekam runs on each, and how to confirm them officially and keep the evidence.
By Achekam · · 4 min read · For Running a business businesses in Nigeria, Kenya
A tax number looks like a small detail until it is wrong. A Nigerian supplier's invoice carries an old TIN that no longer exists. A Kenyan customer's PIN is mistyped on every invoice for a year. An employee's number is missing when the annual return is due. Each one turns a routine filing into a correction.
Achekam stores these numbers and runs some basic checks on them, but it cannot confirm with NRS or KRA that a number is real or belongs to the right person. That job stays with you. This article explains what each identifier is, exactly what Achekam checks, and how to confirm the rest.
The 13-digit Nigeria Tax ID
Since 1 January 2026, Nigeria issues a 13-digit Tax ID that replaces previously issued TINs. It is issued through two portals, taxid.jrb.gov.ng and taxid.nrs.gov.ng. The Nigeria Revenue Service is the former FIRS, renamed. The FCT-IRS published a notice when the Tax ID portal went live.
How you retrieve one depends on who you are:
- An individual retrieves it with their 11-digit NIN, name and date of birth.
- A company retrieves it with its CAC registration number.
Every taxable person must obtain a Tax ID and show it on returns and transaction documents, under sections 6 to 8 of the Nigeria Tax Administration Act 2025. That includes your invoices, and it makes your customers' and suppliers' Tax IDs worth getting right in your records too.
Achekam checks only the length
For a Nigeria Tax ID, Achekam checks only that it has 13 digits. It cannot confirm the number with the authority. You retrieve the Tax ID on the portal and record the evidence in Achekam.
Two related details:
- A NIN is not accepted as a Tax ID. The NIN is how an individual looks up their Tax ID, but it is a different number. Achekam refuses it in the Tax ID field.
- CAC numbers are normalised to digits and never length-checked. Achekam will store a CAC number with a missing digit without complaint, so check it against the company's registration documents.
A 13-digit number that passes Achekam's check can still be wrong: two digits swapped, or a valid Tax ID belonging to someone else. The length check catches typing slips that change the length, nothing more.
The KRA PIN and its shape check
In Kenya, the KRA PIN identifies a taxpayer to KRA. Achekam checks only a KRA PIN's shape: a letter, nine digits and a letter. It is a soft check: it flags a PIN in a different shape rather than treating the shape as proof of anything. Achekam does not check BRS company registration numbers at all.
You confirm a PIN on iTax's PIN checker and record the evidence in Achekam.
As with the Nigerian Tax ID, the shape check cannot tell you whether the PIN is real, current or belongs to the business you think it does. A PIN copied from an old invoice can have the right shape and belong to a company that has since been deregistered.
Confirming on the official checker and keeping the evidence
For every number that matters, such as your own, your employees' and your regular customers' and suppliers', confirm it at the source and keep proof:
- Look the number up on the official service: the Tax ID portal in Nigeria, iTax's PIN checker in Kenya.
- Save the result as a PDF or screenshot showing the name, the number and the date.
- Record the evidence against the record in Achekam.
- Keep the file in Document Centre, where files can be stored in folders, tagged and searched, so the evidence is easy to find when someone asks.
- Re-check when a supplier changes its name, merges or sends bank details that do not match the name.
On your documents, a customer's tax number prints as a VAT number only when it looks like a South African VAT number. A Nigerian Tax ID or a KRA PIN prints as a "tax number", which is the accurate label.
The GavaConnect connection that is not live yet
KRA's GavaConnect offers approved developers a PIN checker and a tax compliance certificate checker, along with NIL return filing. It offers no API for filing VAT, corporation tax, PAYE or withholding tax returns. Whether NIL filing is currently available has varied, so check KRA's developer portal before relying on it.
Achekam has a GavaConnect connector, but checking KRA PINs and tax compliance certificates through it in production is not live. It would need your business to enter its own GavaConnect approved-developer keys and addresses, the connection to pass a health check, and an Achekam platform administrator to authorise it for production. NIL return filing through GavaConnect is shown as coming soon and is not built. Until the connection is live for you, the manual check on iTax is the only check.
For Nigeria, no public Tax ID verification service was found, so the manual check on the portal is the way to confirm a Tax ID.
At a glance
| Identifier | Achekam checks | Achekam does not check | Confirm it on |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nigeria Tax ID | 13 digits | That it exists or whose it is | The Tax ID portal |
| CAC number | Nothing beyond keeping digits | Length or existence | Company documents |
| KRA PIN | Shape, as a soft check | That it exists or whose it is | iTax PIN checker |
| BRS number | Nothing | Anything | Registration documents |
Identifiers are one of several places where Nigerian and Kenyan workspaces need a manual step; see screens that still assume South Africa in NG and KE and what payroll does not yet do for NG and KE employers. Tax numbers on invoices also meet VAT; read charging VAT in Nigeria and Kenya while rates await approval.
Start with your own Tax ID or PIN: confirm it on the official service, save the evidence and record it. Then work through your largest customers and suppliers.
General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.
