Memory is a poor record-keeper for something that only happens once a year. A quick search settles the question properly.
Why guessing your filing history is risky
A founder who "thinks" the company filed last year is often working from a payment they made, not a confirmed record. A payment and a confirmed filing are not always the same thing if something went wrong partway through, such as a card decline the portal did not report clearly.
Guessing gets riskier the longer a company has existed, since a small gap from years ago is easy to lose track of entirely, especially after a change of accountant or company secretary.
Using CAC's own public search
The CAC public search on icrp.cac.gov.ng is the direct way to check. It draws on the same record CAC itself uses to decide whether a company's filings are current, rather than a third-party estimate.
Search using the company's registration number, not just its name, since names can be similar across unrelated companies with no connection to each other.
What the search shows, and what it does not
The search shows the company's filing history: which years have a return on file. It does not calculate a penalty for you, and it does not replace icrp.cac.gov.ng for actually filing a missing year.
Treat it as the starting point, not the whole answer. Confirming a gap is only useful once you act on it, rather than noting it and moving on.
Reading the result correctly
If you filed only a few days ago, give the record a little time to update before treating a gap as real. Search again after a day or two, using the company's registration number as before.
An older gap, several years back, is not a timing issue. That is a genuine missing return, and it needs its own filing, not another look at the search.
What to do if you are behind
If the search shows a missing year, file it before anything else. Up-to-date annual returns and PSC information depends on the whole history being current, so a single old gap can quietly block a request you make today, such as a director change.
Do this before you need the answer for something urgent, such as a bank request or a tender deadline, not in the middle of it. Our guide to filing missed years in order covers the sequence once you know what is missing.
Keep the check itself on a routine, not just something you do when a problem shows up. The compliance calendar is a reasonable place for that reminder. Once you are current, you can start your CAC annual return for the next year on time, and see the CAC annual returns hub for more of this series.