Nigeria’s investment tax credit offers eligible businesses an annual credit equal to 5% of qualifying capital expenditure, but they must meet activity-specific spending thresholds and clear approval and certification steps.
A company’s initial incentive period lasts five years and may be extended for another five if it meets the law’s reinvestment condition. Capital expenditure acquired within five years from a company’s statutory production day can form the basis of the annual credit. The credit reduces tax payable, and unused amounts may be carried forward for up to five years after the incentive period before they expire.
The Nigeria Tax Act took effect Jan. 1, 2026, and the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) began accepting applications July 15, 2026. The scheme replaced the Pioneer Status Incentive, which offered qualifying businesses an initial three-year corporate income tax holiday with possible extensions. Existing beneficiaries retain relief for their unexpired terms.
Eligibility depends on the product or service listed in the act’s Tenth Schedule, which sets a minimum capital expenditure threshold and an eligibility window for each activity. A company must meet the relevant threshold by its production day. For a producer, that day is when commercial-quantity production begins; for a service company, it is when the company is ready to provide the service on a commercial scale.
Applicants submit investment details and a project presentation to NIPC. The commission reviews the application and sends a recommendation to the minister of industry, trade and investment, who may refer it to the president. NIPC issues an incentive certificate only after presidential approval.
The NIPC application fee is nonrefundable and equals 0.1% of qualifying capital expenditure, capped at ₦5 million. The law also permits the Industrial Inspectorate Department (IID) to charge a separate certification fee at the same rate and cap. A company with both qualifying and other businesses must keep separate accounts or risk being denied the credit.
NIPC lists typical processing periods of eight weeks for its stage and four weeks each for IID and the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS). The later stages depend on the production-day milestone, so those estimates do not establish a 16-week deadline from the initial application to an available credit.
Within one month of its production day, a company must ask IID to certify that date. The act provides for IID to issue an expenditure certificate after inspecting assets, while NIPC’s guidelines assign final qualifying expenditure certification to NRS. Ordinarily, the company must apply to NRS within one month after its production day is certified for qualifying capital expenditure incurred before that day.
