How to file tax on the LIRS eTax portal: A step-by-step guide for Lagos residents

How to file tax on the LIRS eTax portal: A step-by-step guide for Lagos residents

What counts as “income” under the Nigeria Tax Act 2025?

Who needs to file taxes in Lagos?

What you need before you start filing on the LIRS eTax portal

How to file taxes on the LIRS eTax portal: Step by step

Penalties for not filing your tax return by April 14

What happens after you file? Getting your Tax Clearance Certificate

Frequently asked questions about filing taxes on the LIRS eTax portal

What Nigeria’s 2025 tax reform changed

If you have been trying to figure out how to file taxes in Lagos, this guide covers everything you need. The Lagos State Internal Revenue Service (LIRS) eTax portal at etax.lirs.net is the only approved platform for filing your annual personal income tax return, with a deadline of April 14, 2026. Every Lagos resident earning income must file, including salaried employees. Even if your company deducts PAYE from your salary every month and remits it to the government, you are still legally required to file your own individual return. Your employer’s payment does not cover your filing obligation. This is the first filing season under Nigeria’s sweeping 2025 tax reform laws, which introduced new tax bands, abolished the old Consolidated Relief Allowance, and made electronic filing the only acceptable method.

Below is everything you need to know, from required documents and step-by-step portal navigation to exact penalty figures and post-filing steps.

On March 31, 2026, LIRS Executive Chairman, Dr Ayodele Subair, announced a two-week extension of the individual annual income tax return deadline, pushing it from the statutory March 31 to April 14, 2026.

The press statement, signed by Head of Corporate Communications, Monsurat Amasa-Oyelude, described it as a one-off measure to ease compliance and give taxpayers additional time to complete and submit accurate tax returns.

The official statement did not mention portal problems. But Technext broke a story on March 30: the LIRS eTax portal at etax.lirs.net had experienced widespread technical difficulties just one day before the original deadline. Users reported hours of failed access attempts, submission errors, and an inability to complete filings. One user noted: “This is what’s expected of a platform likely designed for a few thousand users per day, suddenly needed to be accessed by millions.” Since manual filing has been completely phased out, taxpayers had no alternative.

This was not an isolated event. Earlier in 2026, LIRS also extended the employer annual returns deadline from February 1 to February 7, signalling a pattern of administrative flexibility under the new tax regime.

LIRS described the extension as a one-off measure. After April 14, penalties under the Nigeria Tax Administration Act (NTAA) 2025 kick in: N100,000 for the first month of default, plus N50,000 for each subsequent month.

The NTA 2025 defines ‘income’ broadly. Section 4 of the Act spells out every category of income, profits, or gains that are chargeable to tax. The law does not limit income to your salary or your business profit. It captures almost every way money can come to you.

Here is what counts as taxable income:

The threshold is N800,000 per year. If your total income from all the sources above is N800,000 or less annually, your tax is 0%. But you are still required to file a return.

One of the biggest misconceptions in Nigerian tax compliance is the belief that salaried employees whose employers deduct Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE) tax do not need to file annual returns. This is wrong. Section 14(3) of the NTAA 2025 explicitly resolves a long-standing ambiguity in the old Personal Income Tax Act: employees must file their own annual returns of income from all sources, notwithstanding the employer’s separate filing obligation under Section 14(1)-(2).

LIRS has stated this directly: “Filing annual tax returns is not optional; it is a legal requirement under the NTAA 2025. While many employees believe their tax obligations end with PAYE deductions by employers, the LIRS clarifies that individuals must still file returns.” Taiwo Oyedele, Minister of State for Finance and Chairman of the Presidential Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms Committee, reinforced the point, noting that “the tax reforms clarify that employees cannot assume their obligations end once employers deduct taxes from their salaries.”

Here are the categories of people legally required to file taxes in Lagos, under Section 13 of the NTAA 2025:

Even individuals with income below the taxable threshold can submit a nil return. The filing obligation is universal; only the tax liability may be zero.

Gather these documents and information before logging onto the eTax portal. Missing items will stall the process.

See the full list of 50 tax exemptions and reliefs under the new law.

On the next page, fill in your personal details: title, name, email, phone number, occupation, marital status, nationality, gender, full address (street name, number, state, LCDA, and LGA), and select your nearest Tax Station from the dropdown. If asked whether you are a public servant, select accordingly. Choosing “No” lets you search for your business type and enter your occupation.

Click “Submit.” Your Taxpayer ID will be sent to your email along with a prompt to set a password. On the password setup page, enter your Taxpayer ID, click “Proceed,” enter the 6-digit OTP sent to your email, and create a password. The password must include at least one capital letter, one number, and a special character (such as # or @). Click “Proceed” to finish. If you already have an account, click “Already Have an Account? Login Here” instead.

Go to etax.lirs.net. You will see a “Select Login Type” screen with four options: Taxpayer, Corporate Admin, Consultant, and LIRS Admin. Select “Taxpayer”; this is the option for individuals and corporate taxpayers. On the login form, enter your Payer ID in the field marked “There should be a prefix ‘N-‘ or ‘C-‘” and enter your password, then click the green “Login” button. If you forgot your Payer ID, click “Forgot Payer ID?” If you forgot your password, click “Forgot Password?” Both options are on the login form. If you are registering for the first time, click “Create New Payer ID” instead.

After logging in, verify your profile is complete. Check that your address, phone number, email, and passport photograph are all up to date. The photo is required to generate a Tax Clearance Certificate. If anything is missing, use the Chat Box in the bottom-right corner of the screen for help. You can also add family details (spouse and children’s Taxpayer IDs) by clicking “FAMILY RELATIONS” on the green bar at the bottom of your profile page.