What Nigeria's 2025 tax Acts changed for businesses
The main changes for a Nigerian business since the Nigeria Tax Act 2025 took effect on 1 January 2026: VAT, company tax, PAYE, the Tax ID and Rev360.
By Achekam · · 4 min read · For Running a business businesses in Nigeria
On 1 January 2026, Nigerian business tax was rebuilt around a new statute. A whole shelf of older Acts was repealed, the federal tax authority took a new name, a new portal replaced the old one, and the rates and reliefs that touch every payroll and every company's profit were reset. For an owner who last read about tax when registering the business, it can feel as if everything moved at once.
Not everything did. Some figures stayed exactly where they were. This article walks through what changed for an ordinary Nigerian business at the time of writing, what stayed the same, and how Achekam handles the new rules.
A new Act and a renamed authority
The Nigeria Tax Act 2025 commenced on 1 January 2026. It repealed, among others, the Capital Gains Tax Act, the Companies Income Tax Act, the Personal Income Tax Act, the Petroleum Profits Tax Act, the Stamp Duties Act and the VAT Act. Tax periods before that date stay under the repealed laws, so the change is not retrospective: 2025 is still taxed under the old rules.
The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has been rebranded as the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS). One official text spells it "Nigerian Revenue Service", and the Acts themselves exist in more than one text, a point that matters for at least one contested figure below. The differences are covered in the two texts of Nigeria's tax Acts.
The NRS publishes a summary of the Nigeria Tax Act 2025 as the main law on who and what is taxed: taxable persons and income, chargeable income and deductions, tax rates, the new fossil fuel surcharge, and how it works alongside the Tax Administration Act.
VAT: the rate stayed, small businesses step out
Nigeria's VAT rate is 7.5%, unchanged by the new Act. What changed is who is in the system. A small business is now exempt from registering for, charging and filing VAT, though it may opt in. The old N25 million VAT threshold is obsolete.
The turnover limit that defines a small business for this purpose is contested: N50 million in the gazetted text of the law, N100 million in the other text. If your turnover falls between the two, take advice before you decide whether to keep charging VAT.
Company tax and the Development Levy
From 1 January 2026, a small company pays 0% company income tax and every other company pays 30%. Every company still files an annual return, however small.
Companies other than small and non-resident ones also pay a Development Levy of 4% of assessable profits. The levy replaces several separate charges: the Tertiary Education Tax, the NITDA IT levy, the NASENI levy and the Cybercrime Act levy. Whether it also replaces the Police Trust Fund levy is uncertain. The details are in Nigerian company income tax from 2026.
New PAYE bands
Personal income tax, and so PAYE, moved to new bands from 1 January 2026:
| Annual taxable income | Rate |
|---|---|
| The first N800,000 | 0% |
| N800,000 to N3 million | 15% |
| N3 million to N12 million | 18% |
| N12 million to N25 million | 21% |
| N25 million to N50 million | 23% |
| Above N50 million | 25% |
The consolidated relief allowance is abolished, and rent relief of 20% of annual rent, up to N500,000, is deductible instead. Every payroll needed new tables from January; see Nigerian PAYE bands from 2026.
A 13-digit Tax ID and the Rev360 portal
Since 1 January 2026, Nigeria issues a 13-digit Tax ID that replaces previously issued TINs. Companies retrieve theirs with their CAC registration number; individuals with their NIN, name and date of birth. Every taxable person must obtain one and show it on returns and transaction documents.
On 30 April 2026, the NRS launched Rev360 to replace TaxPro Max for registration, filing, payments, refunds and tax clearance certificates, rolling it out in phases. TaxPro Max profiles, history and balances were migrated automatically, and tax advisers get role-based access without sharing credentials.
Stamp duty on electronic transfers
The old electronic money transfer levy now sits in the Act's stamp duty schedule: a fixed N50, paid by the sender, on an electronic transfer of N10,000 or more. Salary payments and transfers between one owner's accounts at the same bank are exempt.
How Achekam handles the new rules
Once its Nigerian rules are approved, Achekam's Revenue Service Centre computes company income tax with the Development Levy and the minimum-ETR check, VAT, withholding tax, capital gains and stamp duty. Every Nigerian tax figure was seeded "under review", and Achekam computes nothing from a figure until an Achekam platform administrator approves it. Achekam holds no Nigerian rule for periods before 1 January 2026 and refuses to compute them, including a company year that straddles that date.
What to do now
- Retrieve your 13-digit Tax ID and replace old TINs on invoices and letterheads.
- Log in to Rev360 and check that your history and balances came across.
- Decide, with advice, whether you are a small business for VAT and a small company for company tax.
- Confirm that your payroll uses the 2026 bands and rent relief.
- Give stamp duty on transfers its own expense account.
- Keep any work on 2025 and earlier periods separate, under the old laws.
The reform is large, but most businesses meet it through a handful of numbers: the Tax ID, the VAT position, the company tax rate, the PAYE bands and the N50 transfer charge. Get those right first, and take the rest to your adviser one question at a time.
General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.
