Records That Pass: Small Business Record-Keeping and Tax Guide for Nigeria (PDF)

Records That Pass is a practical, plain-language guide for Nigerian shop owners, market traders, online sellers, food sellers, tailors, repairers and anyone who sells something and wants to know how the business is really doing.

Since 1 January 2026 the Nigeria Tax Administration Act requires every person to keep books or records of accounts, whether or not they owe tax, and to keep them for six years. Banks also lend to numbers, not hopes. This guide gives you a simple system, the law quoted with section numbers, and every sheet you need to print.

What is inside
- The law in plain words: books and records, registering, yearly returns, penalties and the "small business" test (Nigeria Tax Administration Act 2025, sections 4, 11, 13, 14, 22, 31, 100, 101 and 102)
- A 5-minute-a-day record-keeping system that works on paper, on your phone or in a spreadsheet
- A whole month worked through for a made-up neighbourhood shop, so you can see how every figure connects
- How to read your numbers: real profit, margin, break-even, and why there is no cash when you made a profit
- Ten mistakes that quietly cost small businesses money
- A 90-day plan to become loan-ready, with a checklist of what lenders look for
- When paper is not enough: where each sheet lives in Fovend (fovend.com), the business system that keeps the same records as you sell, plus a first-week switch plan
- 12 printable A4 sheets: Daily Sales Sheet, Expense Log, Stock Count, Debtors and Creditors, Monthly Summary and Profit, Yearly Summary, Fixed Assets Register, Business Snapshot for lenders, Receipt and Invoice, Tax Self-Check, Compliance Calendar and a Fovend Switch Checklist

Details
- Digital download: PDF, 31 pages, A4. Print it at home or at any business centre.
- Instant access after payment, from your account under Digital purchases.
- 2026 edition, prepared in September 2026.

Important
This guide is general education, not legal, tax or accounting advice, and it is not issued or endorsed by any tax authority. Rules and thresholds change, so check the sources listed at the back of the guide and ask a qualified accountant about big decisions.