A new Nigerian company's first-year filings
The tax and CAC filings a newly incorporated Nigerian company faces in its first 18 months, when each falls due, and how to set up the books from day one.
By Achekam · · 5 min read · For Running a business businesses in Nigeria
The certificate of incorporation arrives, the bank account is open, and the founders get on with what they set the company up to do. Tax returns feel like a problem for later, perhaps for next year. In Nigeria, "later" arrives sooner than most founders expect, and the first deadlines depend on dates they chose almost without noticing: the date of incorporation and the end of the first accounting period.
This article sets out the filings a newly incorporated Nigerian company faces in its first year and a half, in the order they usually arise, and how to set up the books so none of them comes as a surprise.
Register for tax and get the Tax ID
Under the Nigeria Tax Administration Act, 2025, every taxable person must register with the relevant tax authority and obtain a Taxpayer Identification (Tax ID). Since 1 January 2026, Nigeria issues a 13-digit Tax ID, which companies retrieve on the national Tax ID portal using their CAC registration number.
Do this first. Customers that are companies have a reason to ask for it: the same Act makes a company that awards a contract to an unregistered person liable to an administrative penalty of N5,000,000. A new company without its Tax ID to hand can lose its first big order.
The first income tax return
A new company does not wait a full year to file. The NRS says a newly incorporated company must file its first income tax return within 18 months from incorporation or six months after the end of its first accounting period, whichever is earlier. The Nigeria Tax Administration Act, 2025 says the same, and adds that every company must file whether or not it is liable to pay tax.
A worked example in words. A company is incorporated in March and chooses 31 December as its year end. Its first accounting period ends that December. Six months after it is the end of June the following year, which comes well before 18 months from incorporation. So the first return is due by the end of that June.
If the same company had chosen a year end much later, the 18-month limit from incorporation could arrive first. Work out both dates and diarise the earlier one. The NRS sets out these deadlines, and what the return must contain, on its company income tax page. A company that pays no tax because it is small still files; see why a small Nigerian company still files a tax return.
The CAC annual return: not in year one
The Companies and Allied Matters Act, 2020 (CAMA) requires every company to deliver an annual return to the Corporate Affairs Commission at least once every year, but not in its year of incorporation. The return is completed and signed by a director and the secretary.
So the first CAC annual return falls in the year after incorporation, and every year after that. Put it in the calendar now, while the incorporation date is fresh.
Laying the first financial statements within 18 months
Under CAMA, section 388, the directors must lay the company's financial statements before a general meeting not later than 18 months after incorporation, and then at least once every year. A copy of the balance sheet, profit and loss account and notes goes with the annual return to CAC.
Notice that two different 18-month limits now run from incorporation: one for the first tax return and one for laying the first accounts. Both rely on the same first set of financial statements, so preparing them early serves both.
VAT once taxable supplies start
The NRS says every business above the exemption threshold that supplies taxable goods and services in Nigeria must register for VAT, charge VAT and file a return with the NRS on or before the 21st day of the month following the transaction. A small business is exempt from registering for, charging and filing VAT, but may opt in. The turnover limit for that exemption is contested between the two official texts of the law, so take advice on where your company stands before trading starts in earnest. Once registered, a monthly return is due even in a month with no sales.
Setting up the books from day one
The cheapest time to get the books right is before the first transaction.
- A Nigerian workspace. A business can sign up in Achekam as a business, choose its country and get its own workspace and books, with the person who signs up as administrator. Registering the workspace as Nigerian makes the Nigeria pack its default and, on activation, sets the naira and the Africa/Lagos time zone unless already set. The set-up steps are in setting up a business workspace.
- Monthly closes. Months can be soft-closed, hard-closed and locked, and a closed month refuses postings from every source; reopening a hard close needs a second approver. Closing each month from the first one means the first year's statements are ready soon after year end, not reconstructed from scratch.
- Deadlines. Achekam's filing calendar for Nigeria works from approved rules and leaves out any deadline whose rule is awaiting approval or contested, saying why. Add your own company-specific dates, such as the first return and the first general meeting, to your own tax calendar.
The first 18 months at a glance
- At incorporation: retrieve the Tax ID; open the books; decide the year end.
- Before trading: take advice on VAT registration.
- Each month: close the books; file VAT returns if registered.
- After the first year end: prepare the first financial statements.
- Within six months of the first period end, or 18 months from incorporation if earlier: file the first income tax return.
- Within 18 months of incorporation: lay the first financial statements at a general meeting.
- In the year after incorporation: file the first CAC annual return.
Put all seven dates in the diary in the company's first week. The founders will be busy later; the dates will not move.
General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.
