A Nigerian business's tax calendar for the year
The Nigerian tax and payroll dates that fall each month and each year, the ones still uncertain or contested, and how to build a reminder list to trust.
By Achekam · · 4 min read · For Running a business businesses in Nigeria
A Nigerian tax calendar has two kinds of date on it. Some are fixed in the 2025 tax Acts and easy to plan around: the 21st for VAT, 31 January for the employer's annual return. Others are less settled. The research behind Achekam's Nigeria pack found some payroll dates uncertain and one contested, and a calendar that pretends otherwise gives false comfort.
This article sets out the dates in both groups at the time of writing, explains why Achekam's own calendar leaves some of them out, and shows how to build a reminder list that is honest about what is known.
Monthly: VAT and withholding tax by the 21st
The 21st of each month is the busiest federal date:
- VAT. A Nigerian VAT return, including a nil return, is due on or before the 21st of the following month. A small business exempt from VAT does not file unless it has opted in; a registered business with nothing to declare still files a nil return.
- Withholding tax. Tax withheld must be remitted to the NRS by the 21st of the following month. Withholding tax not remitted by then attracts 10% a year plus interest, and failing to deduct it attracts a 40% penalty.
Withholding tax remitted to a State revenue service rather than the NRS is less certain: State remittance dates are marked uncertain in the research. If you withhold on behalf of a State, confirm its date with the State.
Monthly: the National Housing Fund within a month
If your business deducts the National Housing Fund contribution, 2.5% of pay from the employee with no employer match, it is paid to the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria within one month. Count it from the payroll date and put it in the calendar beside the VAT date.
Monthly, but confirm the date: PAYE and NSITF
Two monthly payroll obligations are certain to exist but uncertain in their timing:
- PAYE remittance. The PAYE remittance day is one of three contested Nigerian figures. Achekam does not use it until one platform administrator chooses a candidate with a reason and a different administrator approves it. Each employee's PAYE goes to the State where they live, so confirm the date with each State revenue service you pay. The State-by-State schedules are covered in Nigerian PAYE by State, with the annual return.
- NSITF contributions. Employers pay 1% of total payroll to the NSITF, but the monthly remittance date is uncertain in the research. Confirm it with the NSITF.
Uncertain does not mean optional. It means the date must come from the authority directly, not from a summary.
Yearly: the employer's annual return by 31 January
A Nigerian employer files its annual employer return for the previous year by 31 January. In 2026, Lagos extended that deadline once, to 7 February. Treat that as a one-off: plan for 31 January each year unless your State announces otherwise. The return draws on the whole year's payroll, and Achekam prepares the annual employer return data (the Form H1 data) per State from approved pay runs. That makes December's run the one to approve promptly: until it is approved, the year's figures are not complete, and the 31 January deadline leaves little time to chase them.
Yearly: the company return after the year end
Every Nigerian company, including a small or exempt one, files an annual self-assessment return. For a company in business more than 18 months, it is due within 6 months after the year end, and any tax is paid by the same date. A December year end means the end of June; a June year end, the end of December.
The NRS publishes its own tax calendar, a table of filing and payment deadlines for company income tax, VAT, withholding tax, PAYE, individual returns and stamp duty. Read it alongside this article, and where its PAYE date differs from what your State tells you, follow up with the State.
Dates in dispute, and why Achekam leaves them out
Achekam's filing calendar works from approved rules, with each deadline set to the end of the day in Africa/Lagos. It leaves out any deadline whose rule is awaiting approval or is contested, and it says why. The PAYE remittance day is the clearest example: until two administrators have settled it, Achekam will not print a date it cannot stand behind.
A second caution concerns the Tax Dashboard. Its obligations list is sample data, and obligations added there are not saved. It is not your calendar, however plausible it looks.
Building your own reminder list
| When | What | Paid or filed to |
|---|---|---|
| By the 21st | VAT return (nil if nothing to declare) | NRS |
| By the 21st | Withholding tax remittance | NRS |
| As each State confirms | Withholding tax on the State's behalf | State revenue service |
| Within one month of payroll | National Housing Fund | FMBN |
| As each State confirms | PAYE remittance | State revenue service |
| As the NSITF confirms | NSITF contribution | NSITF |
| By 31 January | Employer's annual return for the previous year | State revenue service |
| Within 6 months after year end | Company annual return and tax | NRS |
Then:
- Enter every line in a shared calendar with a reminder a week ahead.
- Fill the "as confirmed" lines once you have the authority's answer in writing.
- Name an owner and a checker for each line.
- Compare the list with Achekam's calendar each quarter, noting what it leaves out and why.
- Allow for public holidays that fall near a deadline; see public holidays and tax deadlines.
A missed date has a price, and it is set out in what a late Nigerian tax return costs.
General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.
