Tax on imported goods in Nigeria: at the port and on the business

Tax on imported goods in Nigeria comes twice: at the port as duty, levies and VAT, and on the business under the 2026 laws. What a small trader pays and gets back.

A lot of Nigerian importers calculate tax only once.

They ask their clearing agent:

“How much is Customs?”

They add that figure to the cost of the goods, calculate their selling price and assume the tax question is finished.

It is not.

If you import goods into Nigeria to sell, tax can meet you at two different stages:

At the border: Customs duty, import VAT and any levies or charges that apply to that particular HS code.

After you start selling: income tax on the business, VAT obligations where applicable, withholding tax on certain transactions and other compliance requirements.

The first affects your landed cost.

The second affects whether the profit you think you made is actually yours.

For an importer, you need to understand both before deciding whether a product is profitable.

What tax do you pay when goods enter Nigeria? #

There is no single Nigerian import-tax percentage.

Your Customs assessment starts with two things:

what the goods are

and

what Customs says they are worth.

Nigeria Customs classifies imports under HS codes and applies the relevant tariff rate. Customs says ordinary import-duty rates vary by tariff line and are commonly between 5% and 35%, although exemptions, special rates and additional measures can apply to particular goods.

That is why asking:

“How much is Customs duty from China?”

without saying what you are importing is almost meaningless.

A container of machinery, shoes, vehicle parts and cosmetics will not necessarily produce the same assessment even if the invoices have the same value.

Start with the HS code, not somebody's percentage from WhatsApp.

Our Customs duty calculator guide explains the calculation in more detail.

What value does Customs use? #

Customs does not necessarily calculate duty only on the factory price printed on Alibaba.

Under Nigeria's Customs valuation rules, the transaction value can include costs needed to bring the goods to the Nigerian port or place of importation, including transport, loading and handling connected with that transport, and insurance where those amounts are not already included in the price.

That is why importers talk about CIF value:

Cost + Insurance + Freight

Suppose your Chinese supplier sells the goods for ₦10 million.

Freight and insurance add another ₦2 million.

Your Customs value is not automatically the original ₦10 million product price.

That difference matters when duty and other border charges are calculated.

What else can appear on the Customs assessment? #

Depending on the product and applicable tariff measures, an import assessment can contain more than basic import duty.

Nigeria Customs documentation and recent assessments reference charges including:

• import duty
• VAT
• surcharge
• CISS
• ECOWAS levy
• product-specific levies or excise where applicable

A June 2025 Customs report, for example, described an assessment containing import duty, VAT, CISS, surcharge and ECOWAS levy.

But do not turn that into a universal formula and apply it blindly to every product.

The exact assessment depends on the current tariff line and fiscal measures attached to your HS code.

That matters even more in 2026 because Nigeria Customs now publishes a 2026 CET environment for tariff classification.

Before ordering a serious quantity, get the HS code checked.

A wrong classification can change the economics of the entire shipment.

What happened to the 4% FOB Customs charge? #

Be careful with old calculators.

Nigeria Customs began implementing a 4% FOB charge under the Nigeria Customs Service Act in February 2025 and then suspended its implementation following stakeholder consultations. Customs also cancelled declarations made during the initial implementation and asked affected importers to recapture them.

So do not simply add 4% FOB because you found an old article discussing it.

Use the charges actually applicable to your current Customs declaration.

Import tax is one area where yesterday's calculator can cost real money.

VAT on imported goods is still 7.5% #

Nigeria's standard VAT rate remains 7.5% in 2026.

For an importer, VAT can appear at the border when taxable goods enter Nigeria.

But this is where people confuse import VAT with business VAT.

They are connected, but they are not the same transaction.

You may pay VAT when the goods enter Nigeria.

If your business is required to operate within the VAT system, you may then charge output VAT when making taxable sales in Nigeria and claim qualifying input VAT against it.

The 2026 rules significantly expanded the ability of registered taxpayers to recover input VAT connected with taxable supplies, including VAT on services and fixed assets.

So keep the Customs documentation showing the VAT you paid.

Do not throw it into a clearing-agent envelope and forget about it.

Can you recover the VAT you paid at the port? #

Potentially, yes — if you are properly within the VAT system and the VAT qualifies as input tax connected with taxable supplies.

That is an important difference.

Imagine your business has:

₦1,000,000 qualifying input VAT

from imported goods and business purchases.

You then collect:

₦1,500,000 output VAT

from customers.

Subject to the applicable rules, you are generally dealing with the net VAT position rather than pretending the import VAT never happened.

That ₦1 million Customs VAT receipt has value.

But if you are exempt from VAT compliance as a small business and do not opt into the VAT system, do not automatically assume the import VAT becomes a cash refund.

For such a business, unrecovered VAT can effectively become part of the cost of the goods.

This is why your accountant needs the Customs assessment and import VAT records.

Do small Nigerian businesses still have to register and charge VAT? #

The rules changed materially in 2026.

Under the Nigeria Tax Administration Act, a small business is generally one with annual gross turnover of ₦100 million or less and total fixed assets below ₦250 million, excluding professional-service businesses.

Small businesses are exempt from the normal requirement to file VAT returns, although they can elect to opt into the VAT regime. Once a business stops qualifying as small, it must file VAT returns.

That replaces a lot of the old advice online built around the former ₦25 million VAT threshold.

For an importer doing ₦30 million, ₦50 million or ₦80 million in annual turnover, that distinction is important.

Do not use a 2023 VAT article to run a 2026 business.

Small companies can pay 0% company income tax #

This is one of the most important 2026 tax changes for Nigerian importers.

A qualifying small company pays 0% Companies Income Tax.

The current threshold is:

annual gross turnover of ₦100 million or less

and

total fixed assets not exceeding ₦250 million.

PwC's May 2026 Nigeria tax summary confirms the 0% rate at those thresholds.

So imagine your import company records:

₦75 million turnover

and satisfies the fixed-asset test.

That does not automatically mean 30% of your profit disappears as Companies Income Tax.

A qualifying small company is taxed at 0%.

That can make incorporation very attractive to a growing Nigerian trading business.

But there is an important phrase here:

0% tax does not mean 0% compliance.

You still need proper records and applicable filings.

Do not interpret a tax exemption as permission to run the business without accounts.

What happens when turnover goes above ₦100 million? #

Once the company no longer qualifies as small, the tax position changes significantly.

The headline Companies Income Tax rate for larger companies is currently 30% of taxable profit.

The important word is profit.

Not turnover.

If your company sells ₦200 million worth of imported goods, you do not simply send NRS 30% of ₦200 million.

Taxable profit considers allowable business expenses and tax adjustments.

For an importer, those records can include:

• cost of inventory
• freight
• Customs duty
• clearing expenses
• warehousing
• salaries
• business rent
• advertising
• insurance
• professional fees
• qualifying operating expenses

This is another reason your import paperwork should feed directly into your bookkeeping.

If you cannot prove what the goods cost you, calculating the real profit becomes harder.

The 4% Development Levy #

Larger Nigerian companies can also face the new Development Levy.

Under the 2026 regime, the levy is 4% of assessable profits for Nigerian companies subject to it, while small companies and non-resident companies are excluded.

It replaces several older corporate levies, including the Tertiary Education Tax, NITDA levy, NASENI levy and Police Trust Fund levy.

Do not simply calculate:

30% CIT + 4% = 34% of accounting profit.

The two taxes have different computational bases.

Once your company crosses the small-company threshold, this is the stage where using a competent accountant becomes much more important.

What if you import under a Business Name? #

A Business Name does not turn your profit into tax-free income.

A sole trader is taxed as an individual, not as a limited company.

Under the tax rules effective from 1 January 2026, personal income tax is progressive:

• first ₦800,000 — 0%
• next ₦2.2 million — 15%
• next ₦9 million — 18%
• next ₦13 million — 21%
• next ₦25 million — 23%
• above ₦50 million — 25%

These bands apply to taxable income, not simply the total amount entering your bank account.

The old Consolidated Relief Allowance was also replaced. A qualifying taxpayer can claim rent relief equal to 20% of annual rent actually paid, capped at ₦500,000.

This creates an important difference between operating as:

Chidi Ventures

and

Chidi Ventures Nigeria Limited.

The tax treatment is not identical.

Our CAC registration guide explains when each structure may make sense.

What about withholding tax when you sell imported goods? #

Withholding tax creates confusion because traders often treat it as if somebody has imposed a second income tax on the invoice.

That is not always what is happening.

Under the current withholding-tax regime, the rate on the supply of goods or materials other than by the manufacturer or producer is generally 2% for resident corporate and non-corporate recipients.

That can matter when you supply imported goods to:

• large companies
• government agencies
• contractors
• corporate distributors

Suppose you invoice a corporate customer ₦10 million.

The customer may deduct applicable WHT and remit it to the tax authority rather than paying the entire gross amount to you.

Make sure the deduction is properly documented so the tax credit is not lost.

There is also relief for certain small-company transactions: PwC's current summary notes that small companies are exempt from WHT deduction where the transaction value is below ₦2 million and the vendor has a valid TIN.

Again, record-keeping matters.

Money withheld without a usable tax credit certificate is where traders begin to feel they have been taxed twice.

Capital gains changed too #

The 2026 reforms also changed the treatment of gains from disposing of capital assets.

For companies, chargeable gains are now aligned with the company's income-tax rate — generally 30% for larger companies and 0% for qualifying small companies.

For individuals, qualifying capital gains are taxed under the progressive personal-income-tax bands rather than the old standalone 10% CGT rate.

That may not affect every container you import.

But it matters when the business starts disposing of property, shares or other capital assets.

A practical example: the tax on one imported product #

Suppose you import electrical products from China.

The supplier price looks excellent.

You calculate:

Factory cost: ₦10 million

and decide you can sell the stock for ₦14 million.

It looks like a ₦4 million margin.

But you have not yet added:

• China local transport
• international freight
• insurance
• Customs value adjustments
• import duty
• VAT
• applicable levies
• clearing
• terminal charges
• Nigerian delivery
• warehousing
• payment/FX costs
• operating expenses
• business taxes

The product may still be profitable.

But the ₦4 million you saw on Alibaba was never the real margin.

This is why we keep pushing importers toward landed cost before selling price.

Our landed cost from China to Nigeria guide walks through that calculation.

The Customs exchange rate can move your tax without the supplier changing price #

This is another Nigerian reality.

You can negotiate the same US-dollar price with your supplier and still get a different naira Customs assessment because the exchange rate being applied has changed.

Nigeria Customs publishes its current trade exchange rates, and these rates can move.

That means the landed cost you calculated before production started may not be the landed cost when the container reaches Nigeria.

Build some exchange-rate room into your pricing.

Do not sell the entire shipment on preorder using a margin that only works if the naira stays exactly where it is today.

Records are what protect the importer #

Keep a proper file for every shipment.

At minimum, that should include:

• proforma invoice
• supplier payment evidence
• Form M
• insurance
• commercial invoice
• packing list
• bill of lading or airway bill
• PAAR
• Customs assessment
• duty and VAT receipts
• SONCAP/NAFDAC or other regulatory documents
• clearing invoice
• terminal and shipping-line charges
• inland delivery cost

Why?

Because those documents answer three completely different questions.

Customs: What was imported and what was paid?

Your accountant: What did these goods actually cost?

The tax authority: How did you arrive at the profit you declared?

A trader who keeps records can answer all three.

A trader who runs everything through screenshots and memory is eventually forced to reconstruct the business backwards.

Our TIN and importer paperwork guide explains how to organise the file.

Three tax authorities an importer should understand #

You may deal with different authorities for different taxes.

Nigeria Customs Service

handles import classification, valuation, duties and border-related charges.

Nigeria Revenue Service

administers federal taxes including company income tax, VAT and relevant withholding-tax obligations under the new federal framework.

State Internal Revenue Service

generally administers personal income tax for individuals and sole traders resident in the state, subject to the statutory exceptions.

So registering a company with CAC does not mean Customs calculates your annual profit tax.

And paying Customs duty does not mean your business has settled every tax obligation for the year.

They are different systems looking at different stages of the business.

The mistakes that cost Nigerian importers money #

Pricing from the Chinese invoice instead of landed cost.

The supplier's price is only the beginning.

Using the wrong HS code.

A small classification difference can materially change duty and regulatory requirements.

Thinking Customs duty is the only tax.

Your business still has a life after the port.

Assuming 0% small-company CIT means no bookkeeping.

You still need records and filings.

Ignoring VAT documentation.

The VAT shown on Customs and supplier documents may affect your VAT position.

Operating a Business Name as though it were a limited company.

A sole trader's profits fall into personal income tax.

Mixing business and personal money.

If your daughter's school fees, supplier payments, personal transfers and customer receipts all move through the same account, proving business profit becomes unnecessarily difficult.

Losing WHT credits.

If a customer deducts withholding tax, keep the documentation.

The tax advantage most small import companies should know #

If your registered company qualifies as a small company — broadly ₦100 million or less in annual turnover and no more than ₦250 million in fixed assets — its Companies Income Tax rate is currently 0% and it is also excluded from the 4% Development Levy.

That is valuable.

But do not incorporate purely because you heard:

“Companies below ₦100 million don't pay tax.”

Company structure also brings compliance responsibilities.

Look at the complete picture:

liability + banking + ownership + accounting + taxation + growth plans.

Then decide.

The short version #

For an importer, Nigerian tax does not end when Customs releases the goods.

First, the shipment itself can attract:

Customs duty + VAT + applicable levies and charges based on the HS code.

Then the business selling those goods has its own tax position.

A qualifying small company can pay 0% Companies Income Tax.

Larger companies generally pay 30% CIT and may also pay the 4% Development Levy.

A sole trader pays personal income tax under the new progressive rates.

VAT remains 7.5%, but the 2026 small-business rules mean not every small trader has the same filing obligation.

The safest way to price an import is therefore:

product cost → freight → Customs → clearing → delivery → operating cost → tax → profit

not:

China price → add markup → hope.

If you are costing an order now, start with our Customs duty calculator.

Then calculate the full landed cost from China to Nigeria.

And if you are still setting up the business, follow our how to start an import business in Nigeria guide before the first commercial shipment.

First published 20 Sep 2026. Last checked 22 Sep 2026 by The ChinaBridge desk. Something here out of date? Tell us in the comments and we will fix it.