Keeping up with NRS circulars and guidelines

Where the NRS publishes its current guidelines and information circulars, how to track which ones replaced FIRS circulars, and a firm watch list.

By Achekam · 11 October 2026 · 4 min read · For Accountants & audit firms in Nigeria

A tax senior quotes a FIRS circular in a memo to a client. The reasoning is sound, the paragraph reference is correct, and the circular was withdrawn months ago. Nobody on the review noticed, because the firm's folder of "current circulars" was last updated before the Nigeria Revenue Service began reissuing guidance under the new Acts.

Since 1 January 2026, Nigerian tax practice has been working through a wave of new guidance. Some of it restates old positions, some changes them, and some formally replaces FIRS documents that staff have relied on for years. A firm that does not track this deliberately will eventually advise on a dead document.

Where the NRS publishes current guidance

The NRS's Tax Guides page is the central library. It publishes the authority's current guidelines and information circulars, including Guidelines on Tax Refund, Guidelines on the Withholding of VAT, Guidelines on taxation of Virtual Assets and Advance Ruling Guidelines. The same page lists information circulars on claiming tax treaty benefits and unilateral credit relief, on the ascertainment of chargeable gains, and on the taxation of non-resident shipping and air transport.

The NRS Tax Guides page is the address every member of the tax team should know. It collects the laws, the 2026 guidelines and the information circulars in one place.

A detail worth noticing: the file names carry dates, such as 30-05-26 on the refund and withholding VAT guidelines, 31-7-26 on the virtual assets guidelines and 31-08-26 on the advance ruling guidelines. Those dates are a quick way to tell whether the copy on the firm's drive is the one currently published.

Circulars that withdraw and replace FIRS ones

The NRS is not only adding guidance; it is retiring old guidance. Its Information Circular No. 2026/05, which clarifies changes in the administration of VAT and carries a publication date of 29 June 2026, states that it withdraws and replaces FIRS Information Circular No. 2022/14 of 4 April 2022.

The new circular also restates rules in the terms of the new law. For example, it says that as a general rule under section 146 of the Nigeria Tax Act, 2025, a taxable supply is treated as taking place at the earliest of the date the supplier issues an invoice or receipt, the date the goods are delivered or made available, the date payment becomes due, or the date payment is received.

The lesson for the firm is that a replaced circular does not announce itself on the firm's drive. Each new NRS circular should be checked for a "withdraws and replaces" statement, and the replaced document moved out of the current folder the same day.

Legacy laws kept for reference

The Tax Guides page also keeps some older material under a "Legacy Tax Laws" heading, including the Companies Income Tax Act (CITA CAP LFN 2007) and the Petroleum Industry Act 2021.

Legacy material still has uses. Periods before 1 January 2026 were governed by the old laws, so audits, objections and appeals about those years may need them. The risk is a junior who finds a provision in the legacy section and applies it to a 2026 period. Label the firm's own copies clearly, by the periods they govern.

Alerts, reminders and records

The NRS's own tax calendar page gives two pieces of advice that apply to a firm as much as to a taxpayer. It advises setting calendar reminders for every relevant tax deadline and keeping digital or physical records of filings and payments. It also recommends using a tax professional or agent with accreditation for complex filings or compliance questions, and subscribing to tax authority alerts for changes to deadlines.

For a firm, "subscribe to alerts" should be a named person's job, not a hope that someone will notice. Decide who receives NRS alerts, who checks the Tax Guides page, and how often.

Achekam has no live feed: keep a watch list

It is worth being clear about what Achekam does here. Achekam does not pull a live feed of standards and regulatory changes. Its Standards & Regulatory Updates page shows what its knowledge base records, which may lag the NRS.

What Achekam does offer is visibility of the rules its own decisions use. A firm's partners and administrators can read the approved statutory rules in the Regulatory Rule Book, with their change log. Only Achekam's platform administrators change those rules, and never one person alone. That tells the firm what Achekam is applying; it does not tell the firm what the NRS issued last week. Why some Nigerian rules in Achekam are still waiting for approval is explained in rules awaiting approval.

So the firm keeps its own watch list. A simple structure:

A monthly update meeting

Once a month, the person responsible checks the Tax Guides page against the watch list and brings anything new to a short meeting of the tax team. For each new item, the meeting answers three questions: what changed, which clients does it affect, and what must the firm update? Minutes go on file, and the watch list is updated before the meeting closes.

When a question turns on which Act a new circular interprets, reading the two Acts together helps place it.

Download every document currently on the NRS Tax Guides page into a dated folder, build the watch list from it, and remove from the "current" folder any FIRS circular that a new NRS document says it replaces.

General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.