An Assessment of Personal Income Tax Compliance Among Small Business Owners in Lagos State

This study examines the level of personal income tax compliance among small business owners operating in Lagos State, South West Nigeria. The proliferation of informal micro-enterprises in urban centres has created persistent challenges for tax authorities seeking to broaden the revenue base. Despite various reform initiatives by the Lagos State Internal Revenue Service, compliance gaps remain wide, and enforcement capacity is often inadequate. This research adopts a descriptive survey design, drawing on primary data collected from 200 small business owners selected through stratified random sampling across five local government areas in Lagos. A structured questionnaire was administered to assess awareness of tax obligations, filing behaviour, and attitudes toward tax authorities. Secondary data were sourced from published revenue reports of the Lagos State Internal Revenue Service covering recent fiscal periods. Findings are expected to reveal that low awareness, complex filing procedures, and distrust of government spending significantly undermine compliance. The study recommends that the state revenue service deploy simplified mobile tax filing platforms and intensify taxpayer education campaigns at the grassroots level. Strengthening voluntary compliance mechanisms, rather than relying solely on punitive enforcement, is proposed as a more sustainable strategy. This research contributes practical insights to ongoing conversations about domestic revenue mobilisation and small business formalisation in Nigeria's most commercially active state. Keywords: personal income tax, compliance, small business, Lagos State, informal sector.