The HR Compliance Calendar Every Nigerian Employer Needs (Monthly Statutory Deadlines)

One of the most common sources of unnecessary penalties for Nigerian employers is not ignorance of the law — it is simply missing a deadline that they knew existed. PAYE is filed a day late. Pension is remitted in the wrong week. The annual return is forgotten until March.

This calendar documents every recurring statutory obligation for a Nigerian employer, by month and by deadline. Bookmark it, share it with your HR and finance team, and build these dates into your payroll cycle.

Monthly Recurring Obligations

These obligations repeat every month without exception.

By the 7th Working Day After Salary Payment: Pension Remittance

Remit combined employee (8%) and employer (10%) pension contributions to each employee's Pension Fund Administrator (PFA).

If you pay salaries on the 25th, your pension remittance deadline is approximately the 4th or 5th of the following month.

If you pay salaries on the last working day of the month, your pension remittance deadline is approximately the 10th of the following month.

Who to pay: Each employee's chosen PFA separately. Penalty for late payment: Minimum 2% of total contribution due per month of default.

By the 10th of the Following Month: PAYE Remittance

Remit all PAYE deducted from employee salaries in the previous month to your State Internal Revenue Service.

If your employees work in multiple states, you may have separate obligations to multiple State IRS authorities.

Who to pay: The State IRS for each state in which employees work. Penalty for late payment: 10% of the unpaid amount plus CBN lending rate interest.

By End of the Following Month: NHF Remittance

Remit NHF deductions (2.5% of each employee's basic salary) to the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria.

Who to pay: Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN). Penalty for non-payment: Fines and potential prosecution.

Annual Obligations

31 January: Annual PAYE Return (Form H1)

File Form H1 with your State IRS for every employee who received income during the previous tax year. This is a separate requirement from the monthly remittances and is commonly missed.

Form H1 summarises each employee's annual income, deductions, and the total PAYE deducted and remitted over the year.

Late filing attracts a penalty of N500 per month for individuals, with additional penalties for employer entities.

31 January: Self-Assessment Return (for Business Income)

If your company operates as a business, annual tax returns covering the prior year are due by 31 January.

28 February: Deadline for Withholding Tax Reconciliation

Reconcile and file any outstanding withholding tax deductions from contractor and vendor payments.

30 June: Annual Returns to CAC

Companies registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission are required to file annual returns. This is a corporate obligation, not specifically HR, but HR teams often track it because of its overlap with staff-related corporate documentation.

31 December: End of Tax Year / Payroll Year Close

Close the payroll year. Ensure all monthly remittances for the year have been filed and reconciled. Prepare for the January Form H1 filing.

The Full Monthly Compliance Summary

The Consequences of Missing Deadlines

It is worth being explicit about what non-compliance costs:

PAYE late remittance: 10% of the outstanding amount plus CBN MPR interest. For a company with a monthly PAYE liability of N500,000, one month late is a penalty of N50,000 plus interest.

Pension late remittance: 2% of total contribution per month of default. For a company contributing N300,000 per month, one month late is N6,000. Three months late is N18,000 plus the principal. A year of defaults would be N72,000 in penalties alone.

NHF non-remittance: Fines, prosecution, and FMBN demand for backdated contributions.

Form H1 non-filing: N500 per employee per month of late filing. For a company with 20 employees filing two months late, this is N20,000 in penalties.

These amounts might seem manageable individually. But a company that has been systematically missing deadlines across multiple obligations for several years faces a potential combined liability that is substantially larger.

Building the Calendar Into Your Payroll Cycle

The most reliable way to meet these deadlines is to build them into a fixed monthly payroll cycle rather than treating each deadline as a separate task to remember.

A typical payroll cycle for a Nigerian company might look like:

Week 3 of each month:

• Calculate payroll for all employees
• Verify salary changes, new joiners, leavers
• Calculate PAYE, pension, NHF for each employee
• Generate payslips

Last week of each month (salary payment day):

• Process salary bank transfers
• Start countdown on pension deadline (7 working days begins today)

First week of following month (pension week):

• Complete pension remittances to all PFAs by working day 7

By 10th of following month:

• Complete PAYE remittance to State IRS
• Complete NHF remittance to FMBN

Every January:

• Complete all December remittances in first week
• File Form H1 for all employees by 31 January

Using a Compliance Calendar Tool

Tracking these deadlines manually is manageable for a small team but error-prone as the company grows. A payroll and compliance platform like BetternshipHR maintains a built-in compliance calendar that surfaces upcoming deadlines, tracks what has been remitted, and flags overdue obligations.

For many of the companies using BetternshipHR, the compliance calendar alone is cited as one of the most valuable features — because "knowing the deadline is one thing; being reminded of it on a Tuesday when you have other things on your mind is another."

Summary

The key recurring deadlines for Nigerian employers:

• Monthly: PAYE by 10th; pension within 7 working days of salary; NHF by month end
• Annually: Form H1 by 31 January; Annual returns to CAC by 30 June
• Year-end: Close payroll records by 31 December

Building these into a fixed cycle rather than treating each as a one-off task is the most reliable way to maintain compliance without constant anxiety.

BetternshipHR includes a live compliance calendar that tracks every statutory deadline for Nigerian employers. Start free at employer.betternship.com.