E-invoicing pilot broadening out to target large businesses 1 July 2025
The Nigerian tax authority, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has indicated this week that it aims for a full pilot of its “FIRS e-Invoice” platform to streamline invoice management in alignment with the Tax Administration and Enforcement Act.
It will target Business-to-Business (B2B), Business-to-Consumer (B2C), and Business-to-Government (B2G) transactions. It is based on a corporate taxpayer database of over 500,000 businesses.
The technology adopted the BIS Billing 3.0 UBL standard to enable seamless exchange of e-invoices across platforms, while also streamlining business operations and tax compliance nationwide.
Peppol-based structured e-invoice
The implementation of the pilot phase which kicked off in mid-February with large taxpayers who make millions of transactions daily or weekly, is aimed at improving the country’s tax administration and compliance through real-time visibility into business transaction and financial data.
Nigeria’s fiscal policy is at a critical juncture; the drive to expand the tax net, streamline the system and boost compliance is essential for securing Nigeria’s economic future. FIRS wants to trigger the 2007 Tax Administration and Enforcement Act to enforce digital reporting perhaps as soon as 2025. FIRS has set a target to increase tax collection by 57 per cent, targeting a revenue of N19.4 trillion for 2024.
In 2023, Nigeria’s governmental review had identified the implementation of e-invoicing as a key strategy to double VAT revenues. A form of mandatory e-invoicing is already in place with the Central Bank for clearing payments.
Jan 2022 FIRS integrates to taxpayer accounting systems
Nigeria’s Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS) has been empowered to live connect its ATAS tax connector with taxpayers accounting systems. This technology would allow FIRS to review transactional data at the source ERP or accounting system to help detect missing Value Added Tax.
Check VAT Calc’s global live VAT invoice transaction and e-invoice reporting tracker to see where else real-time submissions of invoices is being implemented.
Automated Tax Administration System (ATAS)
FIRS now has the powers to implement ATAS s 30 April 2021.
ATAS enables the automation of tax investigations and audit and the collection of data. This would include access to cloud records, and outsourced accounting providers. Taxpayers would be given 30 days notice of an ATAS implementation. Refusal to allow the FIRS connect to the taxpayer’s system attracts a penalty of N25,000 in the first month and N10,000 for every subsequent month in which the default continues.
Practical questions around compatibility and integration between ATAS and taxpayer systems are not address.
