TIN and CAC details on your invoice

What a TIN is

A Taxpayer Identification Number is a unique number for a taxpayer, used for the payment of all tax types. Nigeria does not issue a separate TIN for different taxes, so the number on your VAT filings is the same number that goes on your invoice.

It is issued to individuals and to business entities alike. Corporate entities are issued a TIN by the federal tax authority, named in the reference below as the Federal Inland Revenue Service and now also referred to as the Nigeria Revenue Service. Individuals in employment are issued a TIN by their State Board of Internal Revenue or by the Federal Capital Territory Inland Revenue Service, through the Joint Tax Board.

The two routes produce two shapes of number, and it is worth knowing which one you are holding.

If you cannot find yours, the same reference lists where it appears: on a Tax Clearance Certificate, on an annual tax returns form, on payment receipts issued by designated collecting banks, on VAT certificates and invoices, on a Joint Tax Board tax card, and on revenue receipts issued by tax authorities.

Why a missing TIN costs you money

There is a direct financial consequence, not just an administrative one. Where a vendor has no valid TIN, the withholding tax rate applied to payments to that vendor is doubled, subject to a cap of 20%. A 5% deduction on professional fees becomes 10%. A 2% deduction on a supply of goods becomes 4%.

The de minimis exemption runs the same way. Small companies are exempt from withholding tax deduction where the transaction value is less than NGN 2 million, but only where the vendor has a valid TIN. Without one, a small invoice is not exempt and the doubled rate is the one that applies.

Separately, many corporate and public sector buyers will not create a supplier record at all without a TIN. The invoice does not get rejected so much as never entered.

The RC number and the registered name

The Corporate Affairs Commission registers businesses in Nigeria and issues the certificate that carries your registered name and your registration number. For an incorporated company that number is the RC number. For a business name registration it is the registration number shown on that certificate.

Take both straight from the certificate, not from memory and not from your website footer. Copy the punctuation and the word order exactly. If the certificate says "Adaeze Studio Limited", that is what goes on the invoice, not "Adaeze Studios" and not "Adaeze Studio Ltd." unless the certificate abbreviates it that way.

• Registered name, character for character as on the certificate.
• RC number or business name registration number.
• Registered or trading address.
• Your TIN.

Put them together in a small block under your name at the top of the invoice. Every Billify template has a place for them, and once entered they carry to every invoice you raise, alongside your logo and brand details.

Why the registered name has to match

A payment run matches three things: the payee name on the invoice, the account name at the bank, and the supplier record created at onboarding. If any of the three differs, the payment stops and someone has to authorise an exception. That is a phone call, a delay, and often a reissued invoice.

The mismatch is usually harmless in origin. A brand name that is shorter than the legal one. A company that registered as "Northbridge Foods Limited" but trades as "Northbridge". An account opened in a personal name before the company existed. None of this is a problem until the money moves.

1. 01Read the name off your CAC certificate and write it down exactly.
2. 02Compare it to the account name your bank holds.
3. 03Compare both to what your invoice template prints.
4. 04Fix the invoice template to match the certificate, and fix the bank record if it differs.
5. 05If you trade under a different name, put the legal name first and the trading name after it, for example "Adaeze Studio Limited, trading as Adaeze".

Business name registration versus a limited company

The two are not the same thing on paper, and the difference shows up on the invoice.

A registered business name is a name under which a person or a partnership trades. There is no separate legal entity behind it. The invoice carries the business name, the registration number from the certificate, and the address. Contracts and liability sit with the individual proprietor or the partners.

An incorporated company is a separate legal person. Its name ends in "Limited" or an equivalent form, it carries an RC number, and the company itself is the party contracting, holding the bank account, and holding the tax identity. The invoice should read as coming from the company, not from you personally.

• Business name: certificate name, registration number, address, TIN.
• Limited company: certificate name ending in Limited, RC number, registered address, TIN.
• Either way, the bank account name should match what the invoice says.
• Either way, put the TIN on the document.

Some buyers, particularly public sector ones, will only contract with incorporated companies. That is a procurement policy rather than a tax rule, but it is worth knowing before you bid rather than after.

Checking before you send

The tax authorities publish verification tools. The Joint Tax Board runs one for TINs issued to individuals at tinverification.jtb.gov.ng, and the federal tax authority runs one for entities at apps.firs.gov.ng/tinverification. Both links are listed in the OECD reference below.

A short check before an invoice goes out, done once and then not again until something changes:

1. 01Is the registered name on the invoice identical to the certificate?
2. 02Is the RC or registration number present and correct?
3. 03Is the TIN present, in the right format, and verifiable?
4. 04Does the bank account name match the payee name?
5. 05Does the invoice carry a unique number and a due date?

You can produce an invoice with these fields filled in, without an account, at the invoice generator. The layouts are in the template library.