LEARN · TAXES
Taxes for investors, in plain English
Published October 2026.
The one idea: tax comes off first
Nigeria mostly taxes investors at the source: the company, bank or fund manager deducts the tax before the money reaches you. You rarely file anything extra. What lands in your account is already net. The main exception is capital gains, the profit from selling, which works differently and changed in 2026.
Dividends: 10% off the top
Every dividend from a Nigerian listed company carries 10% withholding tax, deducted before payment. A ₦2.50 dividend on 1,000 shares is ₦2,500 gross and ₦2,250 net. This rate is unchanged for 2026, and for most individual investors the withheld amount is the end of the story: no extra filing on the dividend itself. See how dividends work for the full timetable.
Interest: 10%, with one big exception
10% withholding tax applies to interest from bank savings, fixed deposits, savings apps, money market funds and Treasury bills (T-bill interest became taxable following the FIRS directive of October 2025). The exception is FGN bonds: interest on Federal Government of Nigeria bonds remains tax-exempt for individual investors, a deliberate policy to encourage lending to the government. This is one reason bonds can beat T-bills on an after-tax basis even at similar headline rates. Compare both on the fixed income page.
Capital gains: the 2026 change
Capital gains tax applies when you sell an asset for more than you paid: shares, ETFs, property. Until the end of 2025 this was a flat 10%. The Nigeria Tax Act 2025, effective 1 January 2026, replaced it with a progressive system:
Individuals now pay CGT at their personal income-tax band: 0% on total annual income up to ₦800,000, then 15%, 18%, and 25% above ₦5 million. Companies pay 30%.
The small-investor shield: if your total sale proceeds stay at or below ₦150 million and your total gains at or below ₦10 million in a 12-month period, you are fully exempt. Most everyday retail investors will never touch these thresholds, which means most readers of this page effectively pay 0% CGT.
Two more things the new law fixed: you can now deduct legitimate costs (brokerage fees, transaction charges) before calculating the gain, and you can offset capital losses against gains, so you are taxed on net profit, not gross.
A worked example
You bought shares for ₦500,000 (plus ₦7,500 in brokerage fees) and sell them a year later for ₦800,000. Your gain is ₦800,000 minus ₦507,500 = ₦292,500. Your proceeds (₦800,000) and gains are far below the ₦150 million / ₦10 million thresholds, so you owe ₦0 in capital gains tax. Under the old flat 10% you would have owed ₦29,250: the new system is kinder to small investors.
What to actually do
Keep records. Your buy price, buy date, and every fee. Without them you cannot prove your cost basis if it ever matters.
Remember the timing advantage. CGT only triggers when you sell. A stock that doubles while you hold it creates no tax bill until you sell it, unlike dividends and interest, which are taxed as they are paid.
Treat this as a map, not advice. Tax rules change, and edge cases (non-residents, companies, very large portfolios) have their own details. This guide was last reviewed in October 2026; for anything material, confirm with a tax professional or the FIRS.