VAT is due on the 21st. Do you actually have the cash?

The VAT filing date is fixed. Your bank balance is not. Here is how Nigerian SMEs check they can remit VAT without starving payroll or rent.

  • VAT due on the 21st is fixed — check cash before you remit.
  • Start ten days out: invoices, input VAT, estimate, then pay.
  • Cash in the account is not all yours if VAT is still owed.

It is the 12th. Fatima’s bakery supply company in Ikeja just collected a strong week of orders. The account looks healthy. Then she remembers: VAT for last month is due on the 21st — nine days — and she has not checked the number since she sent the invoices.

VAT is not a surprise tax. It is a date on the calendar. The surprise is finding out you spent the VAT portion of your sales on diesel and salaries because nobody set it aside.

Estimated VAT due vs cash on hand — before you click remit.

What you are actually paying

Registered businesses charge output VAT on taxable sales, deduct qualifying input VAT on purchases, and remit the net. Your books need sales invoices with VAT shown separately and purchase records that support your input claims. “I think we owe about ₦200k” is how people overpay or underpay.

  • Output VAT: from your issued tax invoices for the period
  • Input VAT: from supplier invoices you can defend
  • Net amount due: output minus allowable input
  • Cash check: net amount vs what is actually in the business account

A ten-day countdown that works

  1. Day 21 minus 10: pull all issued invoices for the filing month — any gaps?
  2. Day 21 minus 7: match major expenses; chase missing supplier invoices
  3. Day 21 minus 5: estimate net VAT due (your accountant or software)
  4. Day 21 minus 3: compare to cash; delay discretionary spend if tight
  5. Day 21: file and pay; save portal receipt immediately

Tax drafts and deadlines in the same workspace as your invoices.

After you file

Archive the return confirmation, the payment receipt, and the invoice pack for that period. If FIRS or your auditor asks questions next quarter, you answer from a folder — not from memory and screenshots.

Track VAT beside your cash position — Invoices + tax calendar · naira-native