Assessing Awareness and Compliance Readiness of Nigerian MSMEs toward the 2026 Monetary and Tax Administrative Reforms

Nigeria's 2026 fiscal reform agenda introduced sweeping changes to tax administration, including the transition from the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS), mandatory e-invoicing and fiscalization, and the establishment of a Tax Ombuds Office. The reforms impose considerable compulsion requirements on Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). A digital structured questionnaire using Google Forms was used to assess the awareness and readiness to cope of owners and key administrative staff of a sample of 174 MSMEs in Oredo Local Government Area, Edo State, Nigeria. Findings, measured through descriptive statistics, chi-square analysis, and Pearson correlation indicated a very low level of awareness for each of the four reform dimensions (5 point scale: 1.97 to 2.22) and compliance readiness (5 point scale: 2.05 to 2.54) as well. A statistically significant positive correlation was found between awareness and readiness (r = 0.46, p < 0.001). The results of the chi-square tests indicated that there was a significant association between awareness levels and readiness categories (χ² = 27.10, df = 4, p < 0.001). High technology costs (mentioned in 68% of responses) distrust in government systems (mentioned in 60% of responses) and lack of information dissemination (mentioned in 58% of responses) were also cited as the most likely challenges in the coming years. Training/capacity building, simple guidelines and compliance software (at reduced cost) were the most frequently requested features. In the light of these results, there is an urgent need for targeted intervention measures such as awareness creation programmes, time schedules and financial schemes, such as allowances and subsidies, by the government to ensure the inclusion of MSMEs in the evolving fiscal landscape of Nigeria. The results obtained here relate to MSMEs in Oredo, Edo State and not generalizable to MSMEs in other geographies in Nigeria except as tentative inferences.

Tax compliance, MSME, Nigeria Revenue Service, e-invoicing, fiscal reform

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