Do I need to file a Nigerian tax return for 2026?
Short answer for most remote workers living in Nigeria: yes. The Nigeria Tax Administration Act 2025 asks "every taxable person whether or not liable to pay tax" to file a return each year without waiting for a demand (s.13(1)), and an employee whose employer runs PAYE still files an annual return of income from all sources (s.14(3)). Answer five questions to see where you stand.
Are you a Nigerian tax resident?
Under the Nigeria Tax Act 2025 (s.202), you are a "resident individual" for a year if any one of these is true: you are domiciled in Nigeria; you have a permanent place available for your domestic use in Nigeria; your habitual abode is in Nigeria; you have substantial economic and immediate family ties in Nigeria; you spent 183 days or more in Nigeria in a 12-month period (annual leave and short absences count as days in Nigeria); or you serve abroad as a Nigerian diplomat.
That list is joined by "or", so it is wide. A developer who lives in Lekki and works for a company in Berlin is resident. A resident's income is "chargeable to tax in Nigeria wherever [it] arise[s], and whether or not [it has] been brought into or received in Nigeria" (s.12). So keeping your dollars in a Payoneer or Wise balance abroad does not take them out of Nigerian tax.
If you live abroad and only send money home, that money is not taxed for arriving in Nigeria: non-residents are taxed on income from Nigeria (s.4, s.17), a point the Presidential Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms Committee repeated in its "Fact not fear #2" notice (December 2025).
Where you file
Your state, not the federal NRS. State and FCT tax authorities administer tax for resident individuals (NTAA s.3(2)). For someone working in Nigeria for a foreign employer, the Act places you in the state where you live (Twelfth Schedule, para. 1(b)); for freelance and other earned income, the state where you had your place of residence on 1 January (para. 6).
- Lagos: Lagos State Internal Revenue Service, eTax at etax.lirs.net.
- Abuja: FCT Internal Revenue Service, portal at taxporta.fctirs.gov.ng.
- Other states: your State Internal Revenue Service. We could not load the Ogun and Rivers sites from our side on 13 October 2026, so we do not print portal addresses we have not seen.
Deadlines for 2026 income
| What | When | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Annual self-assessment return for 2026 | 31 March 2027 (our reading) | NTAA s.13 requires the return every year but does not print a date. State services apply 31 March: FCT-IRS wrote on 31 March 2026 that "the statutory deadline for filing individual annual income tax returns remains March 31 every year". LIRS gave the same date for 2025 returns. |
| Payment of the tax | On or before the filing date, in one go or in instalments | NTAA s.49(1) |
| Tax on an assessment the state sends you | Within 30 days of the notice | NTAA s.49(2) |
| Objection to an assessment | Within 30 days of the notice | NTAA s.41(2) |
Extensions happen but come late: FCT-IRS moved the 2026 deadline to 30 April 2026 only on 31 March 2026. Do not plan around one.
Documents to gather
- NIN, and your 13-digit Tax ID from taxid.nrs.gov.ng or taxid.jrb.gov.ng (enter your NIN, names and date of birth as NIMC holds them).
- For Lagos eTax, your BVN and date of birth to create a payer ID.
- Employment contract and payslips from your foreign employer, or Deel / Remote / Oyster annual statements.
- Upwork, Fiverr or client invoices and the platform's annual earnings report.
- Statements from Payoneer, Wise, Grey, Raenest or your domiciliary account for January to December 2026.
- The CBN rate for each payday, or your worksheet showing it (s.20(4) for costs).
- Receipts for business costs: laptop repairs, software, data, co-working.
- Rent receipts and tenancy agreement with your landlord's details (s.30(2)(a)(vi) asks you to declare the actual rent).
- PFA statement, NHF and health insurance receipts, home loan interest certificate, life insurance premium receipts (s.32 lets the state ask for proof).
- Proof of any tax paid abroad, for the credit in s.120.
What it costs to ignore this
- Not filing: ₦100,000 for the first month and ₦50,000 for each month the failure continues (NTAA s.101).
- Not registering for a Tax ID: ₦50,000 for the first month, ₦25,000 for each month after (s.100).
- Paying late: 10% of the unpaid tax, plus interest at the CBN monetary policy rate plus a spread set by the Minister (s.65).
- Not keeping records, for an individual: ₦10,000 (s.102). Records must be kept for at least six years (s.31(5)).