Becoming a Tax Consultant: Mastering the FIRS System for SME Clients

The 2025 reform is a real demand engine (41.5m MSMEs, tax-to-GDP ~13.5%, the base pushing 10m toward 100m) - but a course is not a licence and a certificate is not clients. Meet Blessing and Segun, and the journey ahead.

• The opportunity — and why it is not what the ads promise · 11 min
• The honest walls: course ≠ licence, certificate ≠ clients · 9 min

Compliance is the recurring bread-and-butter; advisory is the lumpy, higher-value work. The service menu, and why the monthly retainer - not the one-off filing - is the actual business.

• Compliance vs advisory: the two service lines · 10 min
• Why the retainer beats the one-off · 9 min
• Checkpoint 1 — is your offer built on the retainer? · 4 min

Four Acts - NTA (what you owe), NTAA (how you file), NRSA (who collects: FIRS to NRS), JRBA (coordination + Ombuds) - signed 26 Jun 2025, effective 1 Jan 2026, consolidating ~12 old laws.

• The four Acts · 11 min
• FIRS → NRS and the effective date that matters · 7 min
• Checkpoint 2 — do you know the architecture cold? · 4 min

CIT is 0% (small) / 30% (others). The small-company shelter (0% CIT/CGT/Dev-Levy) rides on an enacted N50m-vs-N100m contradiction and EXCLUDES professional-services firms - so your own practice pays full CIT. "Exempt" is not "exempt from filing."

• CIT rates and the small-company shelter · 11 min
• Development Levy, the exclusion, and "exempt ≠ exempt from filing" · 8 min

The new PIT bands (first N800k at 0% up to a 25% top rate), rent relief 20% capped N500k, minimum-wage earners exempt; PAYE is monthly by the 10th to the State IRS, and payroll must be re-run on the new basis from January 2026.

• The new PIT bands · 11 min
• Rent relief, minimum-wage exemption, and the PAYE cadence · 8 min
• Checkpoint 3 — can you run payroll on the new basis? · 4 min

VAT stays 7.5% (the proposed hike was DROPPED - never teach an increase as law); the critical distinction is zero-rated (input recoverable) vs exempt (input NOT recoverable); input VAT is now recoverable on services and capital; file by the 21st.

• VAT stays 7.5% — the hike was dropped · 8 min
• Zero-rated vs exempt: the input-recovery trap · 10 min

Small-co WHT exemption (valid TIN + <= N2m/mo, not automatic); CGT companies 30% and the share-disposal exemption; EMTL folded into stamp duty (>= N10k); NIN = individual / RC = business Tax ID (auto), and no bank-account denial on 1 Jan 2026.

• Withholding tax and the small-company exemption · 9 min
• CGT, stamp duty and EMTL · 8 min
• The TIN, registration, and not scaring clients · 8 min

The portal-agnostic workflow (log in, compute, assess, pay, evidence) taught to survive TaxProMax to Rev360; the calendar (10th/21st/31 Jan/31 Mar/30 Jun); penalties (CIT N100k+N50k/mo, VAT N50k+N25k/mo). Deadlines are the product.

• The portal-agnostic filing workflow · 9 min
• The compliance calendar and the penalties · 10 min
• Checkpoint 4 — is the calendar your product? · 4 min

What it is (3 preceding years clean), NRS for companies / State IRS for individuals, the growth gateway (contracts/loans/licences), needs a valid TIN + clean filings, and the bank-inflow cross-check that blocks it.

• What the TCC is and why it unlocks growth · 10 min

The CITN ladder, the 2025 syllabus + compulsory TPC, the practising licence (N130k/N5k + 18mo + 35 CPD), the 2-4 year / N450-600k timeline - and the accredited-agent route (s.33 + authority letter) you can use NOW. ICAN-vs-CITN is unsettled.

• The CITN ladder · 10 min
• The syllabus, the licence, and the lawful agent route now · 9 min
• ICAN vs CITN: an unsettled turf war · 8 min
• Checkpoint 5 — do you have a lawful path to earn while you qualify? · 4 min

The channels ranked (referrals first, then the register+TIN hook, then social/WhatsApp, then be-where-they-panic), the trust barrier that makes acquisition slow, the CAC/SMEDAN formalisation wave, and converting a one-off into a retainer.

• The channels ranked — and the trust barrier · 10 min
• The register+TIN hook and converting to a retainer · 9 min

The five pricing models, the verified fee anchors (CAC N10k, CITN N130k, FSC N80k/N150k/N250k) vs modelled solo rates, and the engagement letter + management-representation letter that protect you.

• The five pricing models · 9 min
• Fee anchors vs modelled solo rates · 8 min
• The engagement letter, management-rep letter, and onboarding · 9 min

The retainer engine (bookkeeping to reconcile to compute to file to remit to confirm), the annual CIT/PIT cycle, the trust-money rule (client pays NRS directly + file the receipt), and the tools that run it.

• The monthly retainer engine · 10 min
• The annual cycle, trust money, and the receipt · 9 min
• Checkpoint 6 — is your workflow repeatable and clean? · 4 min

Starter (Yr1 part-time, ~N80-200k/mo) vs Scaled (Yr3, ~N930k/mo + 2 juniors); the ramp curve (2-5 to 8-12 to 20) and 20-30% churn; and the rule that you do NOT get the small-company exemption - model your own full CIT.

• Starter vs Scaled: the modelled P&L · 10 min
• The ramp, churn, and modelling your own full CIT · 9 min
• Checkpoint 7 — is your P&L honest? · 4 min

Avoidance vs evasion + s.46; the offence table + s.118 (the adviser co-owns it); the Scam Museum (ECMC fake-TCC 2021, N200m theft 2025); trust money; the PI/CYA stack; NDPA; why practices fail; then scaling + a 90-day launch plan.

• Avoidance vs evasion, and s.46 · 9 min
• The offence table and s.118: the adviser co-owns it · 9 min
• The Scam Museum · 9 min
• Unqualified practice, trust money, the CYA stack, and NDPA · 9 min
• Scaling and the 90-day launch plan · 9 min
• The close: trust earned slowly (and where to go next) · 6 min
• Checkpoint 8 — are you ready to practise? · 5 min