The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has announced that over 1,000 large taxpayers have successfully onboarded and commenced integration on its new electronic invoicing (e-invoicing) platform.
However, the agency said more than 4,000 large taxpayers still need to complete the onboarding process.
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The Project Manager for the FIRS e-invoicing implementation, Mohammed Bawa, disclosed this while speaking at a post-go-live e-invoice workshop for stakeholders on Thursday.
“Between the 1st of August to date, we have over 1,000 large taxpayers that have onboarded and commenced their integration, and we still have over 4,000 to do the onboarding.
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“So, FIRS felt it necessary to give an extension, an opportunity to those who have not been onboarded to be onboarded on the system,” Mr Bawa said.
On 10 August, FIRS announced it had commenced an electronic invoicing solution (e-invoicing) aimed at revolutionising tax payment in the country.
The e-invoicing system, also known as the Merchant-Buyer Model, according to FIRS, is aimed at making tax compliance easier, faster and more transparent for all categories of taxpayers.
At the time, Dare Adekanmbi, Special Adviser on Media to the FIRS chairman, Zacch Adedeji, said the e-invoicing solution went live on 1 August, following a successful pilot phase which began in November 2024.
Speaking on Thursday, Mr Bawa said that the launch began with large taxpayers and only 1,000 of them have completed onboarding since the August deadline, adding that the agency decided to extend the compliance deadline to November 1 to allow more time for onboarding and to provide guidance to companies on the integration process.
He explained that the e-invoicing system is designed to promote transparency and improve Nigeria’s low tax-to-gross domestic product (GDP) ratio by capturing more economic activities, curbing under-declaration, and reducing tax evasion.
“Formalisation will also help the businesses to grow, because these businesses cannot remain informal forever. Once they formalise, we’ll have more taxpayers in the tax net.
“If they remain within the informal sector, they will forever escape the tax net, and then the large taxpayers will continue to bear the burden of tax, because the majority of people doing business are outside the tax net,” he added.
In his remarks, Director of change management at the FIRS Emmanuel Eze, noted that the 1,000 large taxpayers that have successfully onboarded represent only 20 per cent of the target group.
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Mr Eze, represented by Tayo Koleosho, chief of staff to the FIRS executive chairperson, said the agency has certified 16 service providers to act as both system integrators and access point providers (APPs) in the ecosystem, adding that the first live invoice transmissions were from pioneering organisations such as MTN Nigeria, Huawei Nigeria, and IHS Nigeria.
He urged that the extension to 1 November should not be seen as an opportunity to delay but as a chance for stakeholders to complete integration, test transmissions, and ensure system readiness ahead of enforcement.
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