A new company does not apply for a Tax ID the way it applies for a CAC certificate. It looks one up, once the company already exists.
Why a new company needs a Tax ID
Your Tax ID is what the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS), formerly FIRS, now uses in place of the old TIN. You will be asked for it sooner than you might expect. Banking, employment records, government contracts and statutory filings all lean on it.
Sort this out soon after incorporation, rather than waiting until the first time someone asks for it. There is no separate application to file, so there is little reason to delay.
How the Tax ID links to your CAC number
For a business, the Tax ID is linked to its CAC registration number. There is no separate registration step to complete first; the link exists as soon as your company is on CAC's register.
This is different from how it works for an individual, whose Tax ID links to their NIN instead. If you are also sorting out your own personal Tax ID alongside the company's, keep the two lookups separate, since they use different details.
Looking it up on the portal
Look your company's Tax ID up at taxid.nrs.gov.ng. You will need the organisation type and CAC registration number to complete the search.
Save the result somewhere your accountant or whoever handles filings can find it. It comes up again at tax time and whenever a bank or a partner asks for it. Treat it with the same care as your RC number, since both now travel together on most forms you fill in as a company.
What you will need it for
Beyond banking, employment records, government contracts and statutory filings, expect a bank to ask for it when opening a corporate account, alongside your CAC documents. A supplier running its own compliance checks before signing a contract may ask for it too.
None of this needs a fresh application each time. Once you have looked the Tax ID up and saved it, you are simply producing the same number again on request, the same way you would produce your RC number.
If you have not yet registered the company itself, sort that out first. A Tax ID has nothing to link to until CAC's register shows the company exists, so this is very much a second step, not the first one.
For everything else on VAT, Rev360 and the wider 2025 tax changes, our NRS tax hub is the place to go deeper, starting with FIRS is now NRS: what changed.
If you have not yet registered your company, you can start a CAC company registration first, then come back to sort out your Tax ID.