Income tax on rent received, after expenses, crediting the WHT a tenant already deducted.
Balance to pay
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Net rent
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Tax on rent
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WHT credit
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Two taxes meet on the same rent
A Nigerian landlord's rent gets touched twice, and confusing the two is the most common reason people think they have overpaid. First, when a corporate or careful tenant pays you, they are required to withhold 10 percent of the gross rent and remit it to the revenue authority on your behalf. That is not a separate tax. It is an advance on your eventual bill, like a deposit against your account. Second, at year end your net rental profit is added to your other income and taxed at the personal income tax bands. This calculator handles both: it taxes the net rent, then credits the 10 percent already withheld, and shows only the balance you still owe.
Net rent, not gross rent, is what gets taxed. You subtract allowable expenses first: repairs, agent and management fees, insurance, and similar costs of earning the rent. Only what remains is income.
Following NGN 6 million of rent through the system
Use the defaults: NGN 6 million of rent received, NGN 1 million of allowable expenses, and no other income. Net rent is NGN 5 million. Taxed at the bands on its own, NGN 5 million attracts NGN 690,000 of income tax, because the first NGN 800,000 is tax free, the slice up to NGN 3 million is taxed at 15 percent, and the remainder up to NGN 5 million at 18 percent. Meanwhile the tenant already withheld 10 percent of the gross NGN 6 million, which is NGN 600,000, and sent it in. Credit that against the NGN 690,000 and your balance to pay is NGN 90,000. These follow the rates this calculator applies, which you can adjust by editing the boxes.
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When the credit overshoots the bill
The 10 percent is withheld on gross rent, but the tax is charged on net rent, so a landlord with heavy expenses can find the withholding exceeds the tax due. Push expenses higher in the tool and watch the balance fall to zero. At that point the excess withholding does not vanish: it can be refunded or carried forward against a future liability, though refunds in practice take patience and good records. This is exactly why keeping every receipt matters, since you are reclaiming tax that was taken on income you never really kept.
Who should rely on this, and a frequent slip
This is for the individual landlord, the person letting a flat or a few units, not a property company, which is taxed under the companies regime instead. The frequent slip is treating the 10 percent withholding as the final tax and ignoring it at filing. If your rent sits in a high band, the withholding is only a down payment and more is owed, which is the NGN 90,000 balance in our example. If you let to individual tenants who do not withhold at all, expect to owe the full band tax with no credit to offset it, so set money aside.
What counts as an allowable expense against rent?
Broadly, costs incurred wholly to earn the rent: repairs and maintenance, agency and property-management fees, insurance on the let property, and certain financing costs. Capital improvements that add value, rather than restore it, are treated differently and are not simply deducted in the year. Because the new Act has reworked parts of the deduction rules, confirm what qualifies with the Federal Inland Revenue Service, now constituted as the Nigeria Revenue Service, before you file.
If I have a salary too, does my rent push me into a higher band?
Yes, and the tool models that. Enter your salary in the other-income box and it taxes the net rent as the top slice stacked on your existing income, so the rent can be taxed at 21 or 23 percent rather than starting again at the bottom. That is why the same NGN 5 million of net rent costs more tax for a high earner than for someone with no other income.
Which authority do I actually pay as an individual landlord?
Personal income tax, including tax on rental income, is generally administered by the internal revenue service of the state where you are resident, not the federal body, even though the withholding may have been remitted federally. Check filing deadlines and payment channels with your state internal revenue service, as procedures differ across states and are being updated in the wake of the 2025 reform.