Capital gains tax changed shape entirely at the start of 2026. The old flat rate is gone, and a gain is now taxed the same way ordinary income is.
The old flat rate, now repealed
A chargeable gain used to be taxed at a flat 10%, under the old Capital Gains Tax Act. The Nigeria Tax Act 2025 repealed that Act, along with several others.
What replaced it
A chargeable gain is now taxed at ordinary income tax rates instead of its own separate flat rate. For a company, the gain sits inside the same computation as its company income tax.
That is a meaningful shift for any company selling a valuable asset. A gain that once faced a flat 10% regardless of profit now moves with the company's own tax rate. Our piece on CIT rates by company size sets out what that rate actually is today.
Selling a major asset is worth planning around this change, rather than assuming an old flat-rate figure still holds. A disposal timed for one year over another can now land at a genuinely different tax cost, depending on the company's own rate that year.
The small-company exemption applies here too
A company that qualifies as small is exempt from capital gains tax entirely. This sits alongside its exemption from company income tax and the development levy.
Our piece on the small-company exemption covers the turnover and fixed-assets tests behind that status, including the dispute over the exact turnover figure.
The once-in-a-lifetime relief on a main home
An individual selling their main home gets a specific relief. The gain on a dwelling house, with up to one acre of adjoining land not used commercially, is exempt.
This relief applies once in a lifetime. Use it carefully. It cannot be claimed a second time on a later property.
The yearly limit on private cars
A car used only for private purposes is not treated as a chargeable asset at all. This applies for up to up to two cars a year for one individual.
A car used for business, or a third car sold in the same year, does not get the same automatic pass.
A quick example
An individual selling a personal car for ₦8 million, for example, faces no capital gains tax on it at all, as long as it is one of no more than two private cars sold that year.
Common mistakes
- Assuming the old 10% rate still applies. It was repealed along with the old Act.
- Using the main home relief more than once. It is a once-in-a-lifetime allowance, not an annual one.
- Forgetting the private car limit is per year, not per car ever sold. A third car in the same year loses the automatic exemption.
For the wider reform this sits inside, read the Nigeria Tax Act 2025 explained, and browse the hub on the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS), formerly FIRS, and Rev360 for more.