Paperwork for Event Centres and Caterers in Nigeria

VAT basics for venues and caterers

VAT stays at 7.5 percent but has been charged under the Nigeria Tax Act 2025 since 1 January 2026, collected by the renamed Nigeria Revenue Service. Service providers can now offset input VAT, small businesses under the threshold do not charge it, national e-invoicing is being phased in by size, and Lagos adds its own 5 percent consumption tax on event centres and restaurants.

The tax law under your invoices changed in January 2026

The old Value Added Tax Act stopped applying after 31 December 2025. VAT now sits in the Nigeria Tax Act 2025, with collection and procedure in the Nigeria Tax Administration Act 2025, both effective from 1 January 2026. The standard rate stayed at 7.5 percent. The collector is the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS), the new name for FIRS; its e-invoicing portal already redirects from the old FIRS address.

One change is good news for event centres and caterers: according to BDO's summary of the new Act, service providers can now offset input VAT on what they buy against the VAT they charge, where before most of it was simply a cost. Diesel, decor supplies and hired equipment bought from VAT-registered suppliers are worth documenting properly now.

Small businesses and the VAT threshold

The reform exempts small companies from several taxes, but commentators disagree about the exact line: some read the Acts as setting it at ₦50 million of turnover and others at ₦100 million, and reports say the VAT registration threshold moved from ₦25 million to ₦50 million. If your turnover is anywhere near those figures, get a written view from your accountant before you stop or start charging VAT.

E-invoicing is arriving by size of business

NRS runs a national e-invoicing system called the Merchant Buyer Solution. Reports say large taxpayers moved to mandatory use in November 2025 and that medium and small VAT-registered businesses were expected to follow from 1 January 2026, while BDO's summary describes a separate electronic fiscal system starting with businesses turning over ₦5 billion or more. The phasing is still settling, so ask NRS or your tax adviser which phase you are in before you change how invoices are issued.

Lagos adds its own consumption tax

Lagos State's Hotel Occupancy and Restaurant Consumption Law charges a 5 percent consumption tax on the use of hotel facilities, event centres and restaurant food and drink, collected by the operator and remitted to LIRS by the 20th of the following month. How that state tax sits alongside federal VAT has been fought in the courts for years. Our templates leave it as an optional line for Lagos venues to decide with their adviser.

December, Easter and the weekends that pay the bills

Nigerian event businesses earn most of their year in a few peaks: December weddings and end-of-year parties, Easter, and every Saturday in between when there is a burial, a naming ceremony or a 50th. Those are the weeks when a hall is double-booked by two managers, a caterer forgets to receipt a transfer, or the generator runs four hours past what was priced. Clean paperwork per booking is what lets you check each event against the bank and the diesel log the following week, and it is what you will show NRS if they ask about a month.

Templates for Nigerian venues and caterers

Each guide below explains one document with a worked Nigerian example and a free Excel file in naira.

• Quotation template for event centres and caterers: /ng/quotation-template
• Invoice template with VAT at 7.5%: /ng/invoice-template
• Receipt template for transfers, POS and cash: /ng/receipt-template

Where Venura helps

Venura keeps the hall calendar, quotations, invoices, deposits and receipts for each booking in one place, in naira, with your own VAT rate on each line, so a Saturday cannot be sold to two families and every transfer is matched to a booking. Nigerian venues and caterers can subscribe and pay in their own currency; pricing is quoted per business, so ask us. Venura is not connected to the NRS e-invoicing system.

Questions from Nigeria