Reference
What the words on the paperwork mean
One paragraph per term, in the order you meet them: the documents first, then the taxes and the bodies that collect them. Each links to the tool or guide that does the thing.
- Updated September 2026
- Invoice
- Proforma invoice
- Quotation
- LPO
- Credit note
- Waybill
- TIN
- VAT
- Withholding tax
- PAYE
- CAC
- RC and BN numbers
- NRS
- E-invoicing
- IRN
- TCC
- Small company
- Development levy
- Rent relief
- Zero-rated supply
- Statement of account
- Invoice
- A demand for payment issued by a seller after goods are delivered or work is done, listing what was supplied, the price, VAT if charged, and how to pay. In Nigeria it should carry the seller's TIN and CAC number and a sequential number.
- Invoice generator
- Proforma invoice
- A quotation written in invoice form, sent before the work to request a deposit or approval or to support an import. It has a validity date, not a due date, and is not a demand for payment.
- Proforma generator
- Quotation
- A priced offer for goods or services, valid until a stated date, which becomes an agreement when the client accepts it. Nigeria uses quotation where American English uses estimate.
- Quotation generator
- LPO (local purchase order)
- A purchase order issued by a buyer to a supplier confirming an order at the quoted prices, with a delivery address and date. The supplier quotes the LPO number on the waybill and the invoice.
- LPO generator
- Credit note
- A document that reduces or cancels an invoice already issued, referencing the original invoice and reversing its VAT. Used for returns, overcharges and discounts agreed after invoicing; never edit the original invoice.
- Credit note generator
- Waybill
- The document that travels with goods: sender, receiver, driver, vehicle, item quantities and a line for the receiver to sign on delivery. Called a delivery note or packing slip elsewhere.
- Waybill generator
- TIN (Tax Identification Number)
- The number the tax authorities use to identify a taxpayer. Individuals get one through their NIN from the Joint Tax Board; companies and business names get one from the CAC at registration. The 2025 Administration Act calls it a Tax ID.
- How to get a TIN
- VAT (Value Added Tax)
- A 7.5% tax on taxable goods and services, charged by businesses above the small-company threshold and remitted to the Nigeria Revenue Service by the 21st of the following month. Basic food, medicines, books, tuition and residential rent are zero-rated.
- VAT calculator
- Withholding tax (WHT)
- Income tax deducted at source by the payer, at 2% to 10% depending on the payment, remitted under the recipient's TIN and credited against the recipient's own tax. Doubled where the recipient has no TIN.
- WHT calculator
- PAYE (Pay As You Earn)
- Personal income tax deducted from salaries by the employer each month and remitted to the state internal revenue service by the 10th of the following month, on bands from 0% to 25% under the Nigeria Tax Act 2025.
- PAYE calculator
- CAC (Corporate Affairs Commission)
- The federal registry for business names, companies and incorporated trustees. Registration issues an RC number (companies) or BN number (business names) and generates the TIN.
- CAC registration cost
- RC and BN numbers
- The CAC registration numbers: RC for a registered company, BN for a business name. Printed on invoices to show the client they are dealing with a registered business.
- Invoice generator
- NRS (Nigeria Revenue Service)
- The federal tax authority that replaced the Federal Inland Revenue Service in January 2026 under the Nigeria Tax Administration Act 2025. It collects company income tax, VAT and withholding tax on corporate payments and runs the e-invoicing platform.
- Tax deadlines
- E-invoicing (Merchant-Buyer Solution)
- The NRS system that validates invoices and stamps them with an Invoice Reference Number and QR code. Large taxpayers are live, medium taxpayers since July 2026, and businesses under ₦1 billion turnover from 1 July 2027.
- E-invoicing guide
- IRN (Invoice Reference Number)
- The unique reference the NRS assigns to a validated e-invoice. Once a turnover tier is enforced, only invoices with an IRN count for VAT and withholding tax credits.
- E-invoicing guide
- TCC (Tax Clearance Certificate)
- A certificate from the state IRS or the NRS confirming that a taxpayer has filed and paid for the last three years. Required for government tenders, many bank processes and corporate vendor onboarding.
- How to file returns
- Small company
- Under the Nigeria Tax Act 2025, a company with turnover of ₦50 million or less and fixed assets of ₦250 million or less. It pays 0% company income tax, no development levy, and does not charge VAT. The Administration Act uses ₦100 million; the gap is unresolved.
- 2026 rates table
- Development levy
- A 4% charge on assessable profits introduced by the Nigeria Tax Act 2025 that replaced the tertiary education tax and the NITDA, NASENI and Police Trust Fund levies. Small and non-resident companies do not pay it.
- 2026 rates table
- Rent relief
- The personal income tax deduction that replaced the Consolidated Relief Allowance in 2026: the lower of 20% of annual rent paid or ₦500,000, claimable only with evidence of rent.
- PAYE calculator
- Zero-rated supply
- A supply on which VAT is charged at 0%, so the seller adds no VAT but can still reclaim input VAT on costs. Includes basic food, medicines, books and educational materials, tuition, residential rent and exports.
- VAT calculator
- Statement of account
- The bank's record of every transaction on an account for a period, with a running balance. Nigerian bank apps export it as a PDF, often password protected, which the converter turns into Excel in the browser.
- Statement converter
When a document is not enough
A document is a one-off. Books are every month.
Download and you are done. Save to ereQa and the invoice sits in your books, gets matched to the payment when it lands, and is ready for your accountant and for e-invoicing.
See ereQa