Building Pocket Taxation From First Principles
Tax should behave like a continuous, legible part of everyday money, not a mysterious annual event. Your phone becomes a living model of your relationship with the state.
The Reality of Small Business Compliance
Most small businesses don’t fail tax compliance because they’re malicious. They fail because the system is fragmented, confusing, and disconnected from their daily operations.
We started with a different assumption: once tax is continuous and legible, it can also become transparent and accountable. You should be able to see not only what you owe, but how government is performing with what it collects.
Continuous
Not a once-a-year scramble, but a daily pulse.
Legible
Plain language instead of dense legal jargon.
Transparent
See exactly where every Naira goes.
Accountable
A verifiable trail from reality to filing.
Our Core Principles
These five pillars define how we rethink taxation for the modern world.
Single Source of Truth About Money
Tax is downstream of reality. If your financial reality is scattered across apps, screenshots, and memory, any tax result is guesswork. Blackgoat starts with one unified view of your financial life—a shared ledger for you, your business, and eventually your government.
Life Events as a Canonical Tax Story
Blackgoat flips the script. Instead of starting with 'Section X, Subsection Y' of a tax act, we start with who you are and how you live. We map your real-world life events onto the law, creating a structured description that the tax engine can understand.
Rules as Living Policy, Not Hard-Coded Formulas
Blackgoat assumes policy must move faster than code. We separate the math engine from the parameters that describe the law. This allows for data-driven updates to bands, rates, and exemptions without rewriting the entire system.
What You Saw is Exactly What Got Filed
We close the trust gap. Every calculation saves a complete snapshot of your inputs, the rule version used, and the detailed breakdown. When you file, we don't 're-guess'; we reuse the exact snapshot that produced your result.
Compliance as a Graph, Not a Flat Table
Most small businesses don't fail tax compliance because they're malicious; they fail because compliance is a complex, disconnected web of obligations. We model these obligations as a graph, providing context-aware guidance that adapts to your reality.
Compliance as a Graph
Traditional tax tools see obligations as a flat list of deadlines. Blackgoat sees them as an interconnected web of life events, business activities, and legal requirements.
Contextual Dependencies
Changing your business address automatically triggers a cascade of local government levy updates.
Proactive Risk Mapping
The system identifies potential compliance gaps before they become official penalties.
Mutual Transparency
A shared graph that both you and the state can trust as the single source of truth.
If you have a standard Personal Income Tax (PIT) return only (Salary/Employment income, and common reliefs such as Pension, NHF, NHIS, and Life Assurance), you can file seamlessly with Blackgoat Basic. Roughly 65% of Nigerian taxpayers are eligible for this standard filing category.
Examples of situations included in a Standard PIT Return:
- Employment Income (PAYE) from one or more employers
- Interest and Dividends (where WHT is final tax)
- Consolidated Relief Allowance (CRA)
- Pension Contributions (RSA)
- National Housing Fund (NHF) Contributions
- National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) Contributions
- Life Assurance Premiums
- Business Expenses (for specialized Self-Employed filings)
Blackgoat Advanced (for situations not included in Standard Return):
- Complex Capital Gains adjustments
- Foreign Income with double taxation treaty claims
- Complex Trust or Estate income
- Business Income requiring audited financial statements
Blackgoat Guarantees
100% Accurate Calculations Guarantee: If you pay a State Internal Revenue Service (SIRS) or NRS (formerly FIRS) penalty or interest because of a Blackgoatcalculation error, we'll pay you the penalty and interest. You are responsible for paying any additional tax liability you may owe. This guarantee is good for the lifetime of your tax return, defined as six years from the date you filed it.
Maximum Tax Savings Guarantee: If you get a larger refund or smaller tax due from another tax preparation method by filing an amended return, we'll refund the applicable Blackgoat purchase price paid. This guarantee is applicable to the specific tax year filed.
Audit Support Guarantee: If you receive an audit letter from a State Board of Internal Revenue or NRS (formerly FIRS) based on your Blackgoat individual or business return, we will provide one-on-one question-and-answer support with a tax professional. We will not represent you before the tax authority or provide legal advice unless you have purchased the Audit Defense add-on.
Satisfaction Guaranteed: You may use Blackgoat Online without charge up to the point you decide to print or electronically file your tax return. Printing or electronically filing your return reflects your satisfaction with Blackgoat Online.
* Prices are subject to change without notice. Internet access required; standard data rates apply to download and use mobile app.