Helping staff get an FCT-IRS tax clearance certificate
What an Abuja employer must file before its staff can apply for an FCT-IRS tax clearance certificate, what employees bring, and how payroll records help.
By Achekam · · 4 min read · For Running a business businesses in Nigeria
Sooner or later an employee walks into the HR office and says they need a tax clearance certificate. Perhaps they are applying for a government contract on the side, renewing a licence, or a bank has asked for one. They assume it is their own business with the tax office. Then the FCT Internal Revenue Service (FCT-IRS) tells them it cannot help until their employer has filed its own papers.
For employers in the Federal Capital Territory, that conversation is avoidable. The FCT-IRS publishes a checklist that splits the work between the organisation and the applicant, and the organisation's part comes first. This article walks through it from the employer's side.
The organisation's part comes first
The FCT-IRS checklist says that before an employee under the PAYE scheme can apply for a tax clearance certificate (TCC), the employer must have submitted two forms for the organisation:
- Form H1, the Employer's Annual Declaration and Certificate; and
- Form G, the Employers Remittance Form.
An employer that has not filed its annual declaration is therefore holding up every one of its staff who needs a TCC. Treat the annual return as something your employees depend on, not just a filing obligation of your own. The checklist itself is on the FCT-IRS's TCC checklist page, which lists what employers and employees must submit.
Evidence that PAYE was actually paid
The checklist asks the employer for Form G as evidence of payment of the employee's PAYE for the previous years. Deducting PAYE from salaries is not enough; the FCT-IRS wants to see that the money reached it.
This is where weak record-keeping shows. An employer that remitted PAYE but cannot quickly produce the remittance evidence for earlier years will keep its staff waiting while someone searches old e-mails and bank statements. Keep each remittance receipt with the month it relates to, year by year.
Proof of the deductions the employee claims
The checklist also requires evidence of payment for allowable deductions claimed by the employee, namely pension, NHF, NHIS and life assurance. If an employee's tax was reduced because of these deductions, the FCT-IRS wants proof the deductions were real and were paid over.
For the employer, that means keeping evidence of the pension remittances to each fund administrator, the National Housing Fund remittances where the employer deducts NHF, and the health insurance and life assurance payments, in a form that can be matched to individual employees.
What the employee brings
Once the organisation's part is in place, the applicant brings their own documents. The FCT-IRS checklist lists:
- Form A, the Personal Income Tax Annual Returns Form, duly completed, including any benefit in kind.
- The TCC Application Form (Form 802), completed.
- A photocopy of a staff ID card or another valid means of identification.
- Payslips for the previous three years, for January, April, September and December only, or the individual's bank statement where there are no payslips.
- An FCT-IRS TIN domiciled in a tax office, and for a renewal, a photocopy of the previous TCC.
The checklist lists an application letter to the Tax Controller as optional.
On the TIN: the checklist still refers to an "FCT-IRS TIN", but the FCT-IRS said in a notice of 29 December 2025 that a new Tax ID applies from 1 January 2026. That item may therefore now mean the employee's Tax ID. Ask the tax office if in doubt.
Employers can make step 4 easy. An employee who has to ask for a dozen old payslips is grateful for an employer that can produce them without a search. The general rules on clearance certificates are in tax clearance certificates in Nigeria.
Payslips and schedules from your payroll
If you run payroll in Achekam, much of the employer's paperwork comes out of approved pay runs.
- Payslips. Payslips are PDFs with the business's logo and details, downloadable or e-mailed one per person. An employer setting sends them automatically when a run is approved, with a delivery log, so you can show that each employee received theirs. E-mailing needs an e-mail service configured on the server.
- State schedules. Nigerian monthly schedules for PAYE per State, pension per pension fund administrator, NHF and NSITF, and the annual employer and ITF returns, are prepared from approved runs. Achekam assigns each employee's PAYE to their State of residence and prepares the annual employer return data (the Form H1 information) per State. How those per-State schedules work is covered in PAYE by State and the annual return.
Achekam does not file or pay these returns. A person files on the authority's own channel and records the filing with the reference the authority gave, and a second person confirms each payment. That record of references is what you will reach for when an employee's TCC application needs proof of past remittances.
One practical limit: payslips exist in Achekam only for runs processed there. If you moved payroll to Achekam recently, the earlier years' payslips the checklist asks for live in your previous system, so keep them accessible.
Employer checklist before staff apply
Run through this once a year, after the annual return is filed:
- Form H1 for the organisation submitted to the FCT-IRS, with acknowledgement kept.
- Form G and PAYE remittance evidence for the previous years filed by month.
- Pension, NHF, NHIS and life assurance remittance evidence that can be matched to each employee.
- Payslips for January, April, September and December of each of the last three years available for every employee.
- Employees' Tax IDs recorded on their payroll records.
- A named person in HR or payroll who handles TCC requests and knows where everything is.
When an employee next asks for help with a TCC, the answer can be a folder handed over the same day rather than a week of searching.
General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.
