How to get paid as a freelancer in Nigeria

Agree the scope in writing first

A dispute about money is usually a dispute about scope arriving late. If the client thinks three rounds of revisions were included and you thought one was, the argument happens when you invoice, at the worst possible moment.

It does not need a contract drafted by a lawyer. It needs a message, sent before you start, that the client replies to.

• What you will deliver, in specific terms, with a number where a number applies.
• What is not included.
• How many rounds of changes are covered, and what an extra round costs.
• The dates you will deliver by, and what you need from the client to hit them.
• The total price, and whether VAT applies.
• The payment schedule: how much, when.

A quotation does this job and gives you a document to point back at. If the client needs something to raise a purchase order or open a payment before you invoice, a proforma is the right form.

Deposits

Take money before you start. A deposit does two things. It funds the work, and more importantly it tells you whether this client can and will pay at all, while you have spent nothing.

Somewhere between a third and a half up front is common for project work. What matters is that the number is stated in the quotation, invoiced as its own document, and received before the first hour of work.

A client who will not pay a deposit is telling you something. Sometimes it is a genuine procurement rule, in which case ask what their process is and get a purchase order instead. Sometimes it is not.

Milestones on longer work

On anything running more than a few weeks, break the fee into stages tied to deliverables rather than to dates. A milestone tied to a date can be missed by the client. A milestone tied to a deliverable is triggered by you.

• Tie each payment to something you hand over, not to a calendar week.
• Invoice the stage on the day you deliver it, not at the end of the month.
• Keep stages roughly even. A large final payment is the one that goes unpaid.
• If a stage is approved and the invoice is unpaid, pause before starting the next one. Say so politely and in advance, in the quotation, so it is not a surprise.

The discipline that matters is invoicing on the day. Work delivered and not invoiced for three weeks is work the client has stopped thinking about.

Payment terms and due dates

Put a due date on the invoice, written as a date. "Net 14" is a term that a clerk has to convert. "Due 23 September 2026" is already in the form a payment run uses.

Shorter terms are normal for freelance work. Seven or fourteen days is reasonable for a sole trader; thirty is common when the client is a larger company with a monthly payment cycle. Ask which cycle your client runs on before you set the term, because an invoice that misses the cut-off waits a full month.

• Ask when their payment runs happen and what their cut-off is.
• Ask whether a purchase order number is required, and get it before you invoice.
• Ask for the accounts payable address, not just your contact's.
• Send the invoice to both, and say in the message which one you expect to act.

Late fees are only enforceable if they were agreed before the work. If you want them, put them in the quotation as well as on the invoice.

Make it easy to pay you

Every step between reading the invoice and completing the payment is a place where it stops. Copying an account number into a banking app is a step. Finding the invoice again the next morning is a step.

Billify invoices can carry a payment link and a QR checkout, so the client pays from the document. Payments settle to a Billify wallet and you withdraw to your bank account. Collection is naira only, through Kora Pay.

• Put a payment link on the invoice as well as bank details.
• Make sure the account name matches the name on the invoice.
• Send the invoice as an attachment and a link, not as text in an email body.
• Use one invoice numbering sequence so a client can quote the number back to you.

On paid plans, Billify's AI invoice composer drafts the line items from a plain-words description of the work, which shortens the gap between finishing a job and sending the bill. There is a Billify app for iPhone and iPad. There is no Android app.

Chasing late payment

Chase early, briefly, and without apology. A polite reminder on the day after the due date is normal business practice, not an accusation.

1. 01Three days before the due date: a short note confirming the invoice is with them and asking whether anything is needed. This catches missing purchase orders before they cost you a cycle.
2. 02The day after the due date: a reminder with the invoice number, amount and original due date, attached again.
3. 03Seven days late: reply on the same thread, ask directly when it will be paid, and ask for a date rather than a reassurance.
4. 04Fourteen days late: escalate to accounts payable by name, copying your contact. Ask what is blocking approval.
5. 05Thirty days late: state what you will do next, and then do it. Pausing work is usually more effective than a threat you will not follow through on.

• Keep it on one email thread so the history is visible.
• Always attach the invoice again. Never make them search.
• Ask for a date. "Soon" is not a date.
• Never chase in anger, and never chase in a group chat.
• If a payment arrives short, that may be withholding tax rather than a dispute. Check before you complain.

Withholding tax on your fees

When a limited company, a government body or a larger organisation pays you, they will usually deduct withholding tax from the payment and remit it to the tax authority in your name. It is an advance payment of your own income tax, not a fee and not a discount.

For commission, consultancy, professional and technical fees the rate for a resident individual is 5%. Rent, hire or lease is 10%. Supply of goods and materials is 2%. Those rates are from the summary listed in the sources at the foot of this page, under the Deduction of Tax at Source (Withholding) Regulations 2024, which took effect on 1 January 2025.

• You invoice the full amount. Withholding tax never appears on the invoice.
• Where a vendor has no valid TIN, the rate is doubled, capped at 20%. Put your TIN on every invoice: TIN and CAC details on your invoice.
• Ask for the credit note on the day the short payment arrives, not at year end.
• Plan your cash from the amount you will receive, not the amount you invoiced.

The full treatment, including the rates table and what to do when the customer applies the wrong base, is in withholding tax on invoices in Nigeria.

Records to keep for tax

The point of record keeping is not tidiness. It is that at filing time you can produce, without reconstructing anything, what you invoiced, what you received, and what tax has already been paid on your behalf.

• Every invoice, numbered uniquely, retrievable by number and by date.
• Every receipt you issued.
• Every withholding tax credit note, filed against the invoice it relates to.
• A log of deductions: date, client, invoice number, amount withheld, credit note received or not.
• Bank records showing what actually arrived, against what was invoiced.
• Your own expense receipts, particularly anything with a VAT line on it.
• The quotation or written scope for each job, in case a fee is ever questioned.

Do this monthly rather than annually. Reconciling twelve months of short payments in one sitting is how credit notes get written off as bad luck.

Billify's free plan covers 10 invoices a month for up to 5 clients on one business profile, with no card required, which is enough for most people starting out. Pro is NGN20,000 a month and Enterprise is NGN70,000 a month. If you just need a document today, the free invoice generator needs no signup.