NRS e-invoicing for small businesses: a simple guide

The NRS is bringing VAT-registered businesses onto e-invoicing in phases. Your phase depends on your annual turnover.

We keep the phases and their dates in one place so they stay correct: see the mandate table. If you are not sure which turnover band you are in, ask your accountant.

If your phase has not started yet, you can still set up now and practise in the sandbox. That way the change is routine by the time it applies to you.

You still agree prices, raise invoices and get paid. The difference is that each invoice now goes through the NRS. Here is what that means in practice.

• Every invoice gets an IRN and a QR code. The IRN (Invoice Reference Number) identifies the invoice to the NRS. Yona builds it from your invoice number, your NRS Service ID and the invoice date. Both the IRN and the QR code appear on every copy of the invoice.
• Every invoice is reported to the NRS. Yona reports it when you send it.
• Your buyer receives it in one of two ways. A buyer on the e-invoicing network gets it through their own Access Point. Anyone else gets it by email or a share link, and the NRS still receives the report. You can check which way applies before you invoice.
• You fix mistakes with a note, not by editing. Once an invoice is reported, it cannot be changed. A credit note cancels it or lowers what is owed. A debit note corrects an amount the other way. Both are reported too.
• If the NRS rejects an invoice, Yona shows you the reasons. Correct the invoice and send it again.
• You record payments. Mark an invoice part paid or paid in Yona. For a reported invoice, the NRS is told the payment status as well.
• Invoices sent to you come in too. When other businesses invoice you through the e-invoicing network, those invoices appear in Yona with their totals and input VAT (the VAT you paid on what you bought). Once you choose Yona, Yona also brings in your earlier invoices held by the NRS.

Gather these before you start.

• Your TIN (Tax Identification Number). Yona uses it to verify your business when you sign up.
• Access to your business's account on the NRS e-invoicing portal (einvoice.nrs.gov.ng). This is where you turn on e-invoicing and choose your Access Point.
• From that portal: your Business ID, your Service ID and your cryptographic key file. The key file lets your invoices be signed as your business. Our portal guide shows where to find each one.
• An email address, or a Google or Microsoft account, to sign up to Yona.
• Details of your regular buyers: their name, their email and their TIN if they have one. You save each buyer once.
• The things you sell, with prices and units. Goods need an HS code, an international code for the type of product. Services need a service code. You save each item once and reuse it on every invoice.

It takes four steps, all done in your browser, and you do not need a developer.

• Sign up and verify your TIN. Create your Yona account and confirm your business. You can start practising in the sandbox straight away.
• Choose ELYONAR LTD on the NRS portal. Go to My Account, then Access Points. Set Rows per page to 40, find ELYONAR LTD (the licensed company behind Yona) and turn on its Default switch.
• Connect in Yona. On the portal, copy your Business ID from My Account, API Integration; your Service ID is the middle part of the IRN Template, between the two dashes. Download your key file from Manage Cryptographic Keys, or choose Re-download Key if you already have one. Then click Connect in Yona, enter the IDs and upload the key file.
• Create and send your invoices. Each invoice gets its IRN and QR code, goes to your buyer and is reported to the NRS.

The sandbox is a practice copy of the whole flow. It runs against the NRS test system, and nothing you send there has legal effect.

On the NRS portal, the TEST MODE switch at the top right controls which one you are setting up. Turn it on for the Yona sandbox and off for live. Do the portal steps once in each mode. A key file made with TEST MODE on works only in the sandbox.

The sandbox is free. It has its own credit allowance, separate from your live balance. The allowance refills every month, and you can top it up for free in the app. Actions there cost the same number of credits as live actions, so a practice run shows you what your live usage will look like.

Good things to try before you go live:

• Add a buyer and an item.
• Check whether a buyer is on the e-invoicing network.
• Create and send an invoice, then find its IRN and QR code.
• Cancel a test invoice with a credit note.
• Mark an invoice as paid.
• Invite a colleague, or your accountant, and give them a role.

Your accountant remains your partner on tax. Yona handles the invoice work that e-invoicing requires: the IRN, the QR code, reporting and delivery. Your accountant still advises you on VAT and your returns.

In Yona you can invite colleagues into your organisation and give each one a role, and your accountant can join the same way. Each person sees your invoices according to the role you give them.

Some things are worth agreeing with your accountant early:

• Which phase of the mandate your business falls into, using the mandate table.
• Who issues credit and debit notes when an invoice needs correcting.
• Who records payments, since the NRS also receives the payment status of a reported invoice.
• How you will use the invoices sent to you, with their totals and input VAT, when you prepare VAT.

If your business runs accounting software, an ERP or its own billing system, you can keep it. Elyonar is a licensed System Integrator and can connect that system to NRS e-invoicing for you. See integration services.

If you have your own developers, they can connect your systems with the Yona API.

Yona works on credits. Each plan gives you a number of credits every month, and each action, such as reporting an invoice, uses some. A credit is a unit, not a sum of money.

Viewing your invoices and the automatic status and buyer checks are free.

If the NRS refuses an invoice before registering it, Yona releases the credits it held and you are not charged. Retrying the same action on the same invoice is never charged twice. Sending a corrected invoice after a rejection counts as a new submission and uses credits again.

If your balance runs low, an action that needs more credits than you have is refused, and nothing is left half done. You can top up in the app at any time and set a low-balance alert. A yearly plan costs the same as ten months and gives you twelve months of credits.

See the plans, and what the most common actions cost, on the pricing page. The full price list is in the Billing area of the Yona app. When you are ready, click Get started.