Zoho has launched Nigeria Edition of Zoho Books to boost VAT and E-Invoicing compliance.
NewsOnline Nigeria reports that Zoho Corporation, a global technology company, has launched the Nigeria edition of Zoho Books, its cloud-based accounting platform, to help Nigerian businesses simplify VAT and e-invoicing compliance while improving financial management through artificial intelligence.
The launch also extends to the Nigerian editions of other applications within Zoho’s finance and operations suite, providing businesses with AI-native tools designed to manage financial and operational processes from a single platform.
According to Prashant Ganti, Vice President, Global Product Strategy and Alliances, Finance and Operations Business Unit at Zoho, the new solutions are designed to address the administrative burden businesses face in complying with Nigeria’s evolving tax and invoicing requirements.
ALSO: Fake Products, Real Deaths: Nigeria’s Growing Counterfeit Crisis – By Festus Edovia
“Nigeria has one of the most dynamic business landscapes, and its successful businesses know that there is a competitive advantage that comes from being compliant and having end-to-end visibility into their finances,” Ganti said.
He added that many businesses continue to deal with manual and time-consuming processes associated with VAT and e-invoicing obligations.
“Zoho Books and our broader suite of finance and operations apps change that equation. Businesses will now have AI-native finance applications purpose-built for the Nigerian regulatory environment that streamline their financial operations, scaling with them as their business grows while offering real-time insights every step of the way,” he said.
With the Nigeria edition of Zoho Books, businesses can automatically apply applicable VAT rates to transactions based on item type and customer classification, helping improve the accuracy of tax calculations.
The platform also supports automatic handling of reverse charges on sales and purchase transactions, while businesses can manage withholding tax across different transaction types involving both residents and non-residents.
Zoho Books can also generate VAT schedules for sales transactions in the format required by the TaxProMax portal. Businesses can generate and submit e-invoices directly to the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS) portal or the NRS Merchant Buyer Solution through an approved e-invoicing service provider.
Beyond tax compliance, Zoho Books provides businesses with tools for invoicing, online payment collection, accounting, bank reconciliation, inventory tracking, project management, budgeting and workflow automation.
Zoho said a recent survey of more than 100 small and medium-sized businesses in Nigeria found that only 24 per cent currently use AI tools for financial management, while 65 per cent identified lack of awareness as the main reason for not adopting AI.
Among businesses already using AI for financial management, 30 per cent reported saving between one and three hours per week, according to the survey.
The company said the findings point to an opportunity for greater AI adoption among Nigerian businesses, particularly as financial management platforms increasingly integrate AI capabilities into routine accounting processes.
Zoho Books incorporates AI features that can suggest categories for bank transactions, retrieve information and provide business overviews through Ask Zia. Its Cocreate Agent allows users to create sales transactions using simple prompts, while AI-powered features can forecast trends, identify anomalies in reports and provide invoicing insights through Zia Invoice Agent.
The Nigeria edition is also available across other applications in Zoho’s finance and operations suite, including Zoho Billing, Zoho Invoice, Zoho Commerce, Zoho Inventory, Zoho Spend, Zoho Expense, Zoho Procurement and Zoho Practice.
According to Zoho, the integration provides businesses with a platform for managing financial and operational processes while incorporating Nigerian VAT and compliance requirements.
The company said its finance and operations applications are built on a common platform, allowing data to flow between applications and reducing the need for manual data entry. This interoperability is intended to improve data accuracy and reduce the amount of time businesses spend transferring information between different systems.
Zoho said its finance and operations suite draws on more than 15 years of product development and currently provides 16 country-specific editions tailored to local tax and compliance requirements, including markets such as Kenya, South Africa, the United Arab Emirates, India, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United States.
The platform also provides customisation and scalability features that allow businesses to adapt applications to their operational requirements without extensive investment in additional IT resources.
The Nigeria launch comes as businesses increasingly seek digital tools to manage accounting, tax compliance, invoicing and other financial processes amid changes in the country’s tax administration and digital reporting environment.
