The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Nigeria’s national tax authority, has announced a three-day shutdown of FIRS IT systems to enable a full maintenance upgrade scheduled from Friday, 28 November to Sunday, 30 November 2025. The agency issued the notice on Thursday, warning taxpayers and businesses to expect temporary disruption across all digital platforms.
The downtime of FIRS IT systems will affect every application and infrastructure layer used for tax filing, payment processing, database access and taxpayer verification. In its public advisory, FIRS apologised for the inconvenience and urged taxpayers to plan ahead to avoid delays in ongoing obligations.
Okay News reports that the temporary suspension of FIRS IT systems follows a tax policy webinar held by the agency two days earlier, where officials explained upcoming changes to corporate income tax rules affecting small businesses beginning in 2026.
During the session, FIRS Deputy Director Kehinde Kajesomo clarified that reforms supported by upgraded FIRS IT systems will require small companies to continue computing taxable income and filing returns even though their payable corporate income tax rate will be zero percent from next year. He explained that filing obligations remain mandatory because exemption has been replaced by zero-percent liability.
The clarification aims to reduce filing errors that improved FIRS IT systems are expected to detect, particularly as many small companies previously assumed they had no reporting obligations. Kajesomo stressed that taxpayers must still complete self-assessment processes and upload returns through FIRS platforms.
The update noted that small companies under Nigeria’s revised classification—those with turnover up to ₦50 million and fixed assets not exceeding ₦250 million—will benefit from zero-percent corporate income tax and zero-percent capital gains tax, a shift that upgraded FIRS IT systems will embed into automated computations.
FIRS also stated that multinational enterprises with global turnover above €750 million and local companies with revenue exceeding ₦50 billion will face a 15 percent minimum effective tax rate. The agency said enhanced FIRS IT systems will support enforcement of the Additional Tax Rule under Section 57 of the Nigerian Tax Act.
In addition, a new Development Levy of 4 percent on assessable profits will replace multiple existing levies, a consolidation that modernised FIRS IT systems will help administer more efficiently. The agency said the downtime is essential to preparing for these 2026 fiscal reforms.
The FIRS emphasised that maintaining resilient FIRS IT systems is critical to Nigeria’s tax modernisation agenda and asked the public for patience while upgrades are completed.
