VAT Return

Nigerian VAT returns are filed monthly — due by the 21st of the following month. Finora Business computes the return from your invoices, expenses, and receipts, and the API exports a FIRS-compliant PDF and Excel workbook ready for upload to the FIRS e-filing portal.

How Finora Business computes the return

• Output VAT — sum of VAT charged on invoices dated in the period, moved to VAT Payable (account 2026) when the receipt is recorded.
• Input VAT — sum of recoverable VAT on expenses and bills dated in the period.
• Net payable — Output VAT − Input VAT. If negative, carries forward.

The return also includes the Sales Schedule (supporting invoice list) and Purchase Schedule (supporting expense/bill list) that FIRS requires as backing documents.

Export as PDF

Query parameters

Body

Example — March 2026 return

curl -X POST "https://api.finorabusiness.com/v1/documents/vat-return/pdf?businessId=$BID" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $FINORA_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{ "startDate": "2026-03-01", "endDate": "2026-03-31" }'

Response — 200

{
  "success": true,
  "data": {
    "documentType": "vat-return",
    "period": { "startDate": "2026-03-01", "endDate": "2026-03-31" },
    "summary": {
      "outputVATKobo": 15_200_000,
      "inputVATKobo": 3_800_000,
      "netPayableKobo": 11_400_000,
      "transactionCount": 42
    },
    "fileName": "VAT-Return-2026-03.pdf",
    "url": "https://storage.googleapis.com/...",
    "expiresAt": "2026-04-17T11:30:00.000Z"
  }
}

Export as Excel

Same body as the PDF endpoint. The Excel response substitutes a .xlsx filename and an Excel-compatible URL.

What ends up on the return

• Sales Schedule — every invoice dated in the period, with customer TIN, taxable amount, VAT amount, and exempt/zero-rated flags.
• Purchase Schedule — every expense and bill dated in the period, with supplier TIN, taxable amount, and input VAT.
• Summary page — totals, net payable, and filing deadline.

Filing workflow

1. Call the Excel export after the 1st of each month.
2. Review the Sales and Purchase schedules — customer TINs should be populated. Missing TINs prevent FIRS acceptance.
3. Upload the Excel to the FIRS e-filing portal.
4. Pay the net amount by the 21st.
5. Once FIRS confirms receipt, mark the VAT Payable account zero via a payment recorded in Finora Business.

Related endpoints

• Tax & Compliance — VAT status and amounts due
• Documents — all document exports
• WHT Certificates