Nigerian and Kenyan returns: prepare, review, approve
How a Nigerian or Kenyan tax return moves through preparation, review and approval in Achekam, how the client approves it, and what stays outside.
By Achekam · · 4 min read · For Accountants & audit firms in Nigeria, Kenya
When a Nigerian or Kenyan return goes wrong, the questions afterwards are always the same. Who prepared it? Who checked it? Which rates and rules were used, and were they the ones in force for that period? Did the client agree the figures before they went to NRS or KRA?
A tax practice that can answer those questions from its records is in a strong position with the client and the authority. One that has to reconstruct the answers from e-mail threads is not.
Achekam's Revenue Service Centre for Nigeria and Kenya is built so that each return answers those questions on its own. It also has a significant limit, which this article sets out plainly.
A tax profile for the client or the firm
Work starts with a tax profile. Under TAX & SARS > Revenue Service Centre (NG / KE), staff can open a Nigerian or Kenyan tax profile for a client, or for the firm itself, and start returns from it.
For a client, the sales and purchase lines are typed in, because the client's books are not linked to the firm's workspace. For the firm's own returns, Achekam works from the firm's ledgers. That difference matters most for VAT, and is explored in a client's VAT return from imported schedules.
Three different people
A Nigerian or Kenyan return in Achekam is prepared by one person, reviewed by a second and approved by a third. The three steps cannot be collapsed into one person's hands.
For a small firm, that can feel heavy. It is also the clearest evidence of review a firm can show. A preparer who knows that a reviewer and an approver will both read the return prepares it differently, and an approver who did not review it is looking at it with fresh eyes.
Frozen figures and new versions for amendments
Once approved, a return's rule snapshot and its figures are frozen. The return records which version of each rule it used, so a later change to a rate does not silently alter a return already approved.
An amendment does not overwrite anything. It is a new version of the return. The original remains as it was approved, beside the amended one, which is exactly what an authority's query or a client's dispute will want to see.
No figure until the rules are approved
Here is the limit. As shipped, Achekam computes no Nigerian or Kenyan tax figure.
Every Nigerian and Kenyan tax figure in Achekam's rule book was seeded "under review". Achekam computes nothing from a figure until one of Achekam's own platform administrators approves it, and that approval is four-eyes on the platform owner's Revenue Rule Approvals page. Firms cannot approve the rules themselves, and no firm user can change a rate. Whether approvals exist on the live service at any given time is not something this article can confirm.
In practice, a firm should check, before relying on the Revenue Service Centre for a filing season, that the rules it needs are approved. Where a rule the return depends on is still awaiting approval, Achekam will not produce that figure, and it is far better to find that out a month before the deadline than on the day.
The client approves by e-signing a summary
When a return is approved or ready to file, a reviewer can send it to the client for e-signature with a summary PDF. The signature is recorded as the client's approval of the return.
The summary never includes the working papers. The client sees what they are approving, not the firm's internal workings, review notes or queries.
For a firm, that closes a gap many practices leave open: the client's agreement to the figures before filing, recorded in the same place as the return itself.
Filing and paying stay outside
Achekam does not file Nigerian or Kenyan returns. A person files on Rev360 in Nigeria or iTax in Kenya, and uploads the portal's receipt for someone else to verify. In Nigeria, the NRS page on its Tax Consultants Portal explains how practitioners register as consultants with their own Tax ID, add client profiles, and file returns and pay taxes on clients' behalf.
There is a catch to plan for. The permission needed to record a filing is given to no role when the pack is activated; it is meant for named people only. However, no screen has been found that grants it, so recording a filing in Achekam may not be reachable. Until your firm has confirmed that it can record filings, keep each portal receipt with the return in the client's records.
Payments work the same way. Achekam records a Nigerian or Kenyan tax payment with the authority's own reference and receipt, an RRR or DIN in Nigeria or a PRN in Kenya, never generates a payment reference, and needs a second person to confirm it. Achekam does not pay the tax.
Who does what
| Step | Who | Recorded in Achekam |
|---|---|---|
| Open the tax profile | Staff | Profile for client or firm |
| Prepare the return | Preparer | The return's lines |
| Review | A second person | Review step |
| Approve | A third person | Frozen figures and rule snapshot |
| Client approval | Client, by e-signature | Signed summary PDF |
| File on Rev360 or iTax | A person with the filing permission | Portal receipt, verified by another |
| Record payment | Staff, confirmed by a second person | Authority's reference and receipt |
Setting up the pack and its permissions is covered in setting up a firm's Nigeria or Kenya pack, and the firm-wide view of obligations in the Regulatory Control Centre.
Run one return through all three people and the client's e-signature before the next deadline, so the team knows the path before it matters.
General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.
