NRS Issues New Virtual Assets Tax Guidelines

The Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS) has introduced new Guidelines on the Taxation of Virtual Assets, confirming that medium and large companies making profits from cryptocurrency and other digital asset activities will pay a 30 per cent corporate income tax. The new framework, published on Monday, applies to companies, individual taxpayers, Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs), peer-to-peer marketplace operators and other players in Nigeria’s digital asset industry. The move follows President Bola Tinubu’s Presidential Executive Order on Virtual Assets Coordination, 2026, which created a coordinated system for regulating cryptocurrencies, stablecoins and tokenised assets.

Under the NRS virtual assets tax guidelines, income earned from crypto trading, virtual asset exchanges, transaction fees, brokerage commissions, wallet and custody services, token issuance, mining, staking, decentralised finance (DeFi) activities and investment gains will all be taxable. “For companies other than small companies, the applicable rate is 30 per cent,” the NRS said, while noting that progressive tax rates under the Nigeria Tax Act, 2025, will continue to apply to individuals.

The NRS virtual assets tax framework also explains that simply holding cryptocurrencies is not taxable because unrealised gains remain exempt until the assets are sold, exchanged or disposed of. Transfers between wallets owned by the same individual are also exempt, provided ownership does not change. However, this exemption does not automatically cover companies, partnerships, trusts or other legal entities, making accurate record keeping essential.

To strengthen compliance, the NRS virtual assets tax guidelines require businesses to meet registration, reporting, VAT, withholding tax and record-keeping obligations. The agency warned that non-compliance could attract penalties, including fines of N10 million for VASP breaches and additional monthly sanctions. The guidelines are expected to improve tax certainty while supporting Nigeria’s wider efforts to strengthen oversight of its growing digital asset ecosystem.

Do you think these new tax guidelines will encourage greater transparency in Nigeria’s cryptocurrency industry?