Recording Nigerian tax payments with an RRR

How a firm records a Nigerian client's tax payment in Achekam with the authority's RRR or DIN and receipt, who confirms it, and what is not checked.

By Achekam · 11 October 2026 · 4 min read · For Accountants & audit firms in Nigeria

A filed return without proof of payment is only half the job. The NRS's records show the tax as due; the client says it paid; the firm, asked months later to prove it, finds a bank debit with a vague description and no reference that ties it to the return.

Every Nigerian tax payment made through the authority's channel produces a reference. Recording that reference, with the receipt, against the right tax and period is what turns "we paid" into evidence. This article explains how payments are made, how Achekam records them, why a second person confirms each one, and the one thing Achekam does not check.

Paying through the authority's channel

Payments to the NRS go through the authority's own channels. Rev360, launched by the NRS on 30 April 2026 to replace TaxPro Max, covers registration, filing, payments, refunds and tax clearance certificates, and is being rolled out in phases. The NRS self-service portal is where taxpayers register, file and pay taxes online, download tax clearance certificates and receipts, and track their filings and payments.

State taxes are different. Achekam lists all 36 State Internal Revenue Services and the FCT-IRS, but leaves every State filing and payment to the State's own channel. PAYE for an employee who lives in Lagos, for example, goes to the Lagos State revenue service through its own channel, not to the NRS.

Achekam does not pay the tax. The client pays, or the firm pays on the client's instruction, through the authority's channel.

RRR and DIN references

A Nigerian payment carries the authority's own reference: an RRR or a DIN. Those references, and the receipt that shows them, are what link the money to the taxpayer, the tax and the period on the authority's side.

Achekam records a Nigerian tax payment with the authority's own reference and receipt, and never generates a payment reference itself. Every reference in the firm's records came from the payment channel. That rule prevents a familiar problem: an internal reference that looks official, gets quoted to the client, and means nothing to the NRS.

Uploading the receipt

Record the payment against the client's tax profile in the Revenue Service Centre, where staff keep Nigerian tax profiles and returns. Payments there are recorded with the authority's reference and confirmed by another person.

For each payment, capture:

• the tax and period it settles;
• the amount;
• the RRR or DIN exactly as it appears on the receipt;
• the date paid;
• the receipt itself, as a file.

Record on the day of payment, while the receipt is to hand. A payment recorded weeks later is a payment someone had to reconstruct.

A second person confirms

A recorded Nigerian tax payment needs a second person to confirm it. The confirmer's task is a comparison of three things:

The same discipline applies to payroll. Achekam does not file or pay Nigerian payroll returns; a person records the filing on the authority's portal with the reference it gave, and a second person confirms each payment.

Choose confirmers who did not make the payment. A person confirming their own entry checks only that they typed what they meant to type, not that what they meant was right.

Reference formats are not validated

Here is the limit to know. Achekam does not validate the format of RRR and DIN references. A reference with a digit missing, or a reference copied from the wrong receipt, will be accepted as typed.

That puts the weight on the confirmer and on the receipt. Practical safeguards:

1. Copy references from the receipt file, never retype them from memory or an e-mail.
2. Confirm against the receipt itself, not against the payer's note of the reference.
3. Where the payment channel offers a way to look up a reference, use it for large or unusual payments.
4. When a reference and an amount do not match the return, stop and investigate before confirming.

A wrong reference recorded in Achekam does not change what the NRS holds, but it does mean the firm's evidence will fail when it is needed.

When a payment goes astray

Payments do go wrong: the right amount against the wrong tax, a payment for last month's period, or a client who paid twice. Do not record such a payment as if it settled the return you intended. Keep the receipt, write a short note of what happened and when, and take it up with the authority through its own channel. Record the payment in Achekam once you know which tax and period it has been credited to, with the reference that matches. A record that reflects what the authority actually holds is worth more than one that reflects what the client hoped.

Who records and who confirms

Payments sit close to filing, and the same care applies to who handles each. In Achekam, no role receives the Nigerian filing permission, NG_NRS_FILE, by default; a firm grants it to named people only. Apply the same thinking to payments: name the people who record payments and the people who confirm them, and keep the two groups apart.

The return workflow these payments settle is covered in the Nigerian and Kenyan tax return workflow. What a late or missing payment costs the client is set out in penalties for late Nigerian returns and payments.

Starting this month

For every Nigerian client tax payment made this month, record the RRR or DIN and the receipt on the day, and have a colleague confirm each one against the receipt before the month closes.

General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.