NRS return templates: filling them from your books
Which NRS Excel return templates a Nigerian business completes on Rev360, and which report in its books each figure should come from.
By Achekam · · 4 min read · For Running a business businesses in Nigeria
Launching soon. Some of the screens this article describes for Nigerian and Kenyan businesses are not reachable in Achekam yet. They are coming soon.
Filing a Nigerian tax return today usually means opening an Excel file the NRS published, typing figures into it, and uploading it to Rev360. The template is the easy part. The hard part is knowing which figure goes in which cell, and being able to show, months later, exactly where in your books each one came from.
This article lists the templates the NRS publishes, matches each to the report in your books that should feed it, and explains how Achekam fits around a process it deliberately does not automate. It ends with a monthly routine you can adopt as it stands.
The templates the NRS publishes
The NRS keeps its official Excel templates on its tax returns forms page, where you can download the current version of each before you start. According to the NRS, they include:
- VAT returns, reporting taxable supplies, output VAT, input VAT and VAT payable for the period;
- Company Income Tax returns for accounting periods governed by the Nigeria Tax Act, with a further CIT template for NGOs, charities, foundations, associations and other non-profit entities;
- withholding tax returns, withholding VAT returns and withheld stamp duty returns, each used to report and remit the amounts deducted;
- Electronic Transfer Receipt Stamp Duty, formerly the Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL).
Each is completed and uploaded on Rev360. Download a fresh copy each time rather than reusing last quarter's file: a template that has changed underneath you is an easy way to file the wrong layout.
How filing works on the portal
The NRS says tax returns must be filed electronically through its self-service portal, where the taxpayer downloads the return forms, uploads the completed forms and pays through the portal's approved electronic payment channels. The portal also shows the status of returns and lets taxpayers use their withholding tax credits.
Achekam's research found no public NRS system-to-system API for filing returns. Returns are filed on Rev360 by Excel upload or web form, by a person.
Which report feeds which template
| Template | Where the figures come from |
|---|---|
| VAT return | Sales and output VAT for the month; purchases and input VAT; for shops, till sales by VAT rate and tax code |
| Company Income Tax | The trial balance at year end, the audited or attested accounts, and the tax computation |
| Withholding tax | Your record of each supplier payment and the tax deducted from it |
| Withholding VAT | Your record of VAT withheld from suppliers, where you are required to withhold |
| Withheld stamp duty | Your record of stamp duty deducted from payments |
| Electronic transfer stamp duty | Your records of the relevant transfers, if your business is one that must report and remit it |
Two Achekam reports carry most of this weight.
The trial balance and general ledger. The general ledger lists every posted line, and the trial balance shows each account for all time, for a period or at a date, and says whether debits equal credits. Run the trial balance for the exact period the return covers. If it does not balance, stop: no template should be filled from books that do not add up. When a figure on a return is questioned, the general ledger is where you show the individual lines behind it.
Till sales by VAT rate. For a business selling over the counter, posted till sales can be listed by VAT rate and tax code for any period, and the VAT return calculations read posted till sales. That gives you the sales side of the VAT template split the way the return needs it.
For withholding returns, keep a working schedule beside the ledger that lists each payment, the supplier's Tax ID, the amount paid and the amount withheld. The template wants that detail, and building it at the end of the month from memory is how mistakes get in.
Why Achekam does not file, and how a filing is recorded
Achekam does not file Nigerian tax returns. A person holding the NRS filing permission files on Rev360 and uploads the receipt, and a different person verifies it before the return counts as filed.
That split is deliberate. The person who uploaded the template is not the best judge of whether it was the right file for the right period. A second person opening the receipt, checking the period and the amount, and comparing it with the trial balance catches the errors that cost the most to fix later.
Payroll schedules: a different layout
Payroll is the exception to "fill the template from the report". Achekam's Nigerian and Kenyan payroll schedules download only as Achekam's own CSV layout and a PDF, not in each authority's upload template.
So for PAYE, pension and the other payroll returns, someone has to move the figures from Achekam's schedule into whatever format the receiving authority wants. Do that with the schedule's totals in view, and check that the template's totals agree with them before uploading.
A monthly template routine
- Close off the month's postings and run the trial balance for the month. Confirm debits equal credits.
- Download fresh templates from the NRS page.
- Fill the VAT template from your sales, purchases and till VAT reports.
- Fill the withholding templates from your payment schedule.
- Save each completed template with the report it came from, under the same month.
- One person uploads on Rev360 and saves the receipt; a different person verifies the filing.
- Pay through the portal and record the payment with the NRS reference.
For how Rev360 replaced the old portal, see Rev360 replaces TaxPro Max. Nil months still need a VAT return; VAT return due dates and nil returns covers that. And once the return is in, recording a Nigerian tax payment with its RRR finishes the job.
General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.
