NRS Tells Content Creators to Get Tax IDs, Offers Zero Company Income Tax for Small Businesses

The Nigeria Revenue Service has asked content creators, influencers and other creative industry operators to register their businesses and obtain tax identification numbers. The agency says formalising opens access to tax incentives, investors and corporate contracts.

NRS officials made the case on Thursday at a tax policy panel during the Creative Africa Nexus Weekend 2026 in Lagos.

Keep proper records, creators told

Simeon Onyegbula, an assistant director in the NRS Field Operation Monitoring Department, urged creative entrepreneurs to obtain a tax ID and keep proper financial records, including invoices, receipts and ledgers. He said such records establish actual taxable profits and support business expense claims.

He said: "Formalise, register, and obtain a tax ID. Keep proper records with all of this, and comply with all the relevant tax laws. Enjoy all the incentives available, and then grow."

Onyegbula added that personal spending cannot be counted as a business expense, and that any deductions must meet the requirements set out in the law.

Kazeem Lawal, an assistant director of tax at the NRS, warned that creators earning significant income through social media and digital platforms risk shutting themselves out of corporate contracts and investment by operating only through personal bank accounts.

Lawal said: "Formalisation is what creates the pathway to growth and then sustainability in business."

Zero company income tax, 5% capital credit

Mustapha Akaje, director of Government Business South Directorate at the NRS, outlined the incentives available. Eligible businesses in the creative industry could qualify for a 5% tax credit on capital expenditure of at least N250 million.

Companies with annual turnover below N100 million and fixed assets under N250 million may also qualify for zero company income tax and an exemption from the 4% development levy.

Akaje noted that small businesses no longer need separate exemption certificates, but must still file tax returns to show they qualify.

Lawal added that small businesses are relieved of certain VAT collection duties, though they may still pay VAT on taxable purchases. Taxpayers wrongly charged VAT can claim refunds within 30 days without an audit.

New support platforms for creative businesses

Obinna Ihedioha, the NRS executive director of People, Stakeholders and Communication, announced plans to set up an NRS Investment and Tax Advisory Hub alongside a Creative Economy Tax and Investment Initiative. He said both platforms would help entrepreneurs understand registration, available incentives and their compliance obligations.

He noted that fear of penalties was keeping some creators from formalising. Citing a Lagos-based creative entrepreneur who earned income for two years without filing tax returns, Ihedioha said: "Uncertainty is a tax nobody collects, but everybody pays."

He said the agency's goal was to connect registered businesses to finance, corporate contracts, markets and intellectual property protection.

Ihedioha said: "Our responsibility, therefore, is to make the formal path the easier path and, of course, reward it."

For Nigeria's creative economy, the message is clear. Creators who stay informal may keep their earnings out of the tax net for now, but they also lock themselves out of the incentives, bank credit and corporate deals that come with a registered business.