Lagos eTax portal down as March 31 tax deadline looms

The Lagos State Internal Revenue Service (LIRS) eTax portal appears to be experiencing technical difficulties. This comes just one day before the March 31 deadline for filing 2025 personal income tax returns.

Several users are reporting that they cannot access the platform or finish submitting their documents. Some are getting errors while trying to submit. This is happening right before the filing deadline, which is especially problematic because Tuesday is the last full day for taxpayers to file.

The Lagos State Internal Revenue Service (LIRS) required all individual taxpayers in Lagos State to file their 2025 annual tax returns by March 31, 2026.

This requirement applied to all income earners, including self-employed individuals, business owners, professionals, informal sector workers, and salaried employees under the Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE) system.

Filing is done exclusively through the LIRS eTax portal at etax.lirs.net. There is no other way to file. If the website is down, many taxpayers might not be able to file on time, even if they try.

The LIRS cautioned that not filing taxes by the deadline would result in penalties, interest, and other enforcement actions as outlined in the Nigeria Tax Administration Act 2025. Taxpayers are now in a bind because they risk penalties for missing the deadline, even though the agency’s own system might be hindering their ability to file on time.

The agency has not issued any public statement acknowledging the technical issues or indicating whether the deadline will be extended as of the time of this report.

Taxpayers express frustrations online with the LIRS portal

As frustration builds, affected taxpayers have taken to social media to express their concerns and anger over the situation. Many say they have spent hours trying to access the portal without success, while others report being stuck mid-process.

“If we are to be honest with ourselves, we are not really ready for a wholesome digital transformation,” one user, Sir Chris, wrote, questioning the readiness of Nigeria’s digital infrastructure.

Read also: Complete guide on how to file your 2025 tax returns on the LIRS portal

Another user, Boyega, said he had spent most of the morning attempting to load the site without success.

“Spend most of the morning trying to load the site, but nth. I just give up,” he wrote.

Others are already calling for an extension of the deadline. Another user, Babs-Jamo, argued that the system failure has made compliance unfair for many taxpayers.

“They should extend it by two months,” he said, adding that he had not even received his tax identification details despite repeated complaints.

Ajadi Quadri also criticised the platform’s capacity, suggesting it may not be designed to handle the volume of users currently accessing it. “This is what’s expected of a platform likely designed for a few thousand users per day, suddenly needed to be accessed by millions,” he noted.

Meanwhile, concerns continue to mount over the lack of official communication from LIRS. With the deadline hours away and no clarification on the reported downtime or possible extension, taxpayers are left in limbo, uncertain whether they will be penalised for a system failure beyond their control.

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