Large taxpayers that failed to migrate to the Nigeria Revenue Service’s (NRS) electronic invoicing platform by the July 31 deadline are now exposed to statutory sanctions, marking the commencement of enforcement under Nigeria’s digital tax compliance regime.
The deadline concluded the compliance window for companies with annual turnover exceeding N5 billion, the first category covered under the NRS’s phased implementation of mandatory electronic invoicing.
To comply, affected businesses were required to onboard the Merchant Buyer Solution (MBS), integrate their enterprise resource planning or accounting systems through an accredited Access Point Provider (APP) or System Integrator (SI), and begin transmitting invoices to the NRS platform for validation.
Under the framework, only invoices validated by the platform receive a unique Invoice Reference Number (IRN) and QR code, establishing their fiscal authenticity for tax purposes.
With the compliance window now closed, companies issuing invoices outside the NRS platform face penalties under the Nigeria Tax Administration Act, including a N200,000 fine for each unvalidated invoice, a surcharge equivalent to 100 percent of the tax due, and interest calculated at the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Monetary Policy Rate plus two percentage points.
