As Nigeria officially enters a new era of digital tax administration, many of the country’s largest businesses are discovering that adopting electronic invoicing is only the beginning. Although the National Revenue Service’s (NRS) e-invoicing deadline has arrived, companies with annual revenues of N5 billion and above are finding that the biggest obstacles lie in data accuracy, internal coordination, and meeting evolving compliance requirements rather than the technology itself.
Under the new tax regime, qualifying businesses must now transmit invoices in real time through the National Revenue Service’s Merchant Buyer Solution (MBS), a move designed to improve tax transparency, reduce revenue leakages, and strengthen compliance. While several large corporations successfully connected to the platform ahead of the deadline, others are still completing system integration, validation, and testing. Early adopters say that despite smooth technical deployment, issues such as mismatched customer Tax Identification Numbers (TINs) and the transition to the new Tax ID system are causing invoice rejections, creating additional pressure within the 24-hour correction window allowed by the tax authority.
Industry experts believe the challenge extends far beyond installing new software. Dapo Adeyemi, an ERP Applications Manager, explained that businesses frequently need to contact customers to verify incorrect tax information before invoices can be accepted. Similarly, tax executives have raised concerns about how large organisations will process transactions with small and medium-sized enterprises that are currently exempt from the e-invoicing mandate. This regulatory uncertainty has prompted many companies to seek clearer guidance from the National Revenue Service to avoid compliance risks.
According to Yele Oyekola, Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder of Duplo, successful e-invoicing implementation requires a company-wide approach rather than treating it as an IT or tax department project. Finance, procurement, operations, sales, and customer service teams all play critical roles in ensuring accurate invoice generation and transmission. Tax technology expert Ayodapo Bamidele added that poor financial records, inaccurate tax classifications, incomplete invoice details, and inadequate system preparation remain common barriers, with full implementation often taking as long as three months from readiness assessment to deployment.
Despite the initial hurdles, business leaders remain optimistic that the new system will deliver long-term benefits. Real-time invoice reporting is expected to simplify tax administration, speed up input VAT claims, reduce manual reconciliation, strengthen audit trails, and minimise payment disputes. As Nigeria advances toward a fully digital tax environment, experts are encouraging companies still preparing for compliance to clean up customer data, resolve integration challenges, test real business transactions, and train employees. They also advise medium-sized businesses to begin preparing early, even before they become subject to the mandate, to ensure a smoother transition into the country’s rapidly evolving tax system.
Source: Businessday
