The Lagos State Internal Revenue Service (LIRS) has extended the deadline for filing individual annual income tax returns for the second time, now giving taxpayers until April 21, 2026, to complete their submissions.
The agency announced the extension on Friday, citing a surge in traffic on its eTax platform following the previous extension to April 14. The LIRS stated that the high volume of users attempting to file reflects genuine compliance efforts and that the additional time is being granted to ensure everyone has a fair opportunity to submit their information accurately.
“This additional extension is granted in consideration of the overwhelming response and to enhance taxpayer convenience, while maintaining the integrity and accuracy of submissions,” the agency said in a statement.
LIRS executive chairman Ayodele Subair described this as the final extension and reminded all income earners in Lagos State that filing remains a statutory obligation. Electronic submission through the LIRS eTax portal at etax.lirs.net remains the only accepted method; manual filings are not permitted.
The obligation covers self-employed individuals, business owners, professionals, informal sector workers, and salaried employees under the Pay-As-You-Earn scheme. Anyone earning income in Lagos State is required to file a tax return.
How we got here: two tax filing extensions and the LIRS portal that crashed
The original filing deadline was March 31. But in the hours before that cutoff, thousands of taxpayers found themselves locked out of the eTax portal. The system was overwhelmed, users reported errors, failed submissions, and hours spent trying to access the platform without success.
Many took to social media expressing concern about being penalised for a technical failure entirely outside their control.
Technext reported on the outage as it happened. The following Monday, LIRS extended the deadline to April 14, with executive chairman Subair acknowledging that the portal difficulties had created a genuine barrier.
He urged taxpayers to use the extra time to file carefully and ensure their Tax ID was correct before submitting.
That extension, however, generated its own surge. As April 14 approached, traffic on the eTax platform climbed again, a sign that a large number of Lagosians were still working through the process. Rather than let another bottleneck build, LIRS has now pushed the deadline a second time to April 21.
Similar read: Complete guide on how to file your 2025 tax returns on the LIRS portal
LIRS has been clear that April 21 is the final deadline. Anyone who fails to submit by that date will face administrative penalties, interest charges, and other enforcement measures under the Nigeria Tax Administration Act 2025.
The agency is not signalling any further flexibility beyond this date.
For those yet to file, filing requires a valid Tax ID, and all submissions must be completed electronically, there is no offline alternative.
