Nigeria taxes residents on worldwide income and non-residents on Nigeria-source income only. Nigeria operates a self-assessment system, with the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS, formerly FIRS - renamed via the Nigeria Revenue Service (Establishment) Act 2025) conducting post-filing review and audit. This page states federal rates. Nigerian states independently administer Personal Income Tax under the federal PITA bands through each State Board of Internal Revenue and levy their own additional charges (such as the Lagos State Land Use Charge); a live, unresolved constitutional dispute between several states, led by Lagos and Rivers, and the federal government over which level of government has the constitutional power to collect VAT remains pending before the Nigerian Supreme Court as of the most recent available sources, so the current federal VAT collection position should not be assumed settled for a specific state.
The Nigerian tax year is generally the calendar year for individuals (companies use their own accounting year). The individual filing deadline is 31 March of the following year; corporate filing deadline is generally within 6 months of the company's financial year-end.
Nigeria's headline corporate income tax (CIT) rate is 30% large companies; 0% small companies.
The headline personal income tax (PIT) rate is 25% top marginal (graduated scale).
The standard VAT/GST (or equivalent consumption tax) rate is 7.5%.
Nigeria underwent a sweeping tax overhaul effective January 1, 2026 (the Nigeria Tax Act and related reform acts, signed into law June 26, 2025). Individual residency is now determined by domicile, habitual abode, family and economic ties, or presence in Nigeria for at least 183 days; Nigerian residents are now taxed on worldwide income (a shift from the prior source-based framework), while non-residents are taxed only on Nigeria-source income. The definition of a "Nigerian company" now expressly includes foreign-incorporated entities effectively managed or controlled from Nigeria, subjecting them to tax on global income. A Nigerian resident company is taxable on worldwide income whether or not repatriated (though dividends, interest, rents, and royalties earned abroad and brought into Nigeria through government-approved channels are exempt).
A non-Nigerian entity has a Nigerian permanent establishment through a fixed place of business or a dependent agent habitually concluding contracts in Nigeria on the entity's behalf, following the OECD Model Treaty definition as applied under Nigerian domestic law and any applicable tax treaty.
Nigeria introduced Controlled Foreign Company rules under the 2026 reform: undistributed profits of a foreign subsidiary controlled by a Nigerian parent may be deemed distributed and taxed in Nigeria at up to a 34% rate. Separately, a Nigerian parent must pay a "top-up" tax where a foreign subsidiary's effective tax rate is below 15% (aligning with global minimum tax principles), and large/multinational groups meeting defined thresholds face a 15% minimum effective tax rate. Detailed modalities for the deemed-distribution calculation were still pending release from tax authorities as of the most recent verification.
Interest expense deductibility on connected-party debt (local or foreign, including implicitly/explicitly guaranteed debt) is capped at 30% of EBITDA in a given tax year; excess interest carries forward up to five years. Nigerian banking and insurance subsidiaries of foreign companies are exempt from this rule. Existing anti-avoidance provisions separately allow the tax authority to disallow or reduce related-party interest not reflecting arm's-length pricing.
Nigeria does not use an elective check-the-box classification system; entity classification generally follows the entity's actual legal characteristics. Nigeria does not have a comprehensive ATAD2-style anti-hybrid regime, though Nigeria's newly-introduced CFC rules under the 2026 reform (see CFC section above) and its 15% top-up-tax alignment with global minimum tax principles address related profit-shifting concerns for large groups.
No foreign bank account or foreign financial asset reporting regime exists in Nigeria requiring residents to separately disclose foreign accounts.
Nigeria does not provide a broad participation exemption for foreign dividends in the European sense; foreign dividends received by a Nigerian company are generally taxable, with relief from double taxation available through Nigeria's foreign tax credit system and treaty network rather than an outright exemption.
Nigeria has a real foreign tax credit regime available to both individuals and companies for foreign tax paid on foreign-source income also taxed in Nigeria, capped at the Nigerian tax otherwise due on that income.
Nigeria has approximately 17 double tax treaties in force. Additional signed-but-not-ratified treaties exist with Kenya, Mauritius, and Poland (not yet ratified by Nigeria's National Assembly), and a broader ECOWAS regional tax treaty has been ratified by Nigeria but awaits ratification by the counterparty ECOWAS member states.