Most people know their PAYE gets deducted every month. Fewer know that a separate return, in their own name, is also due once a year. This is that return.
The deadline, and who it applies to
The individual annual return is due by 31 March each year. It applies to anyone who is a taxable person under the Nigeria Tax Administration Act 2025, which in practice means almost every adult with income, whether from a job, a business, freelance work or rent.
State tax authorities send out reminders as the date approaches. Anambra State IRS, for one, publishes its own reminder on its website and social pages every March.
Owing nothing is not a reason to skip it
Every taxable person must file a return each year, even if no tax is due. That single line answers the most common excuse for not filing: "I did not earn enough to owe tax."
A return that shows no tax due is still a return. It puts you on record with your state as someone who filed, which matters if you ever need a tax clearance certificate. The law makes government bodies and commercial banks ask for one when you deal with them on certificates of occupancy, building plan approvals, government contracts, firearms licences, import and export licences, and trade licences.
How this differs from your employer's return
Employers file their own annual return of everyone's pay, due by 31 January. That return is about the employer's payroll as a whole, not about you specifically, even though your figures sit inside it. See our guide to the employer's annual PAYE return deadline for that side of it.
Your individual return is a different document, due later, filed under your own name, and it is your responsibility, not your employer's. A large company having its payroll return in order says nothing about whether you personally have filed yours.
What to have ready before you file
- Your Tax ID or the state's own taxpayer identification number, since every taxable person must register and get a Tax ID before any of this can happen.
- A summary of your income for the year, from payslips if you are employed or your own records if you are self-employed.
- Evidence for any deduction you plan to claim, since claims need to be backed by documents, not just stated.
- Your login details for the state's online filing portal, if you already have an account from a previous year.
What happens once you have filed
Filing on time keeps your record clean with your state authority. That matters for a tax clearance certificate: in Lagos, for example, the electronic certificate (e-TCC) needs annual returns filed on e-Tax for the last three years and all assessed tax for those years paid.
Keep a copy of whatever you submit and any acknowledgement the portal gives you. At least six years after the year of assessment is the general rule for records connected to your tax affairs, so treat this year's filing the same way.
Where this fits with the rest of the series
If you are not sure which state to file with in the first place, start with which state you pay personal income tax to. If you run your own business or work for yourself, personal income tax for the self-employed covers how assessment works without a payroll department doing it for you. For everything else in this series, see the PAYE and state tax hub.