Stripe account in Nigeria: Paystack, a US LLC, or both
Nigeria is on Stripe's map, but as an "Extended network" market served through Paystack, Stripe's Nigerian company. That suits customers paying in naira. It doesn't give a Lagos business a Stripe account for dollar clients abroad.
For those clients, founders form a US LLC, apply to Stripe as that company with a Nigerian passport and their real address, and bring the dollars into a domiciliary account under the CBN's 2026 FX Manual.
Dollar clients abroad paying a Nigerian founder? That's the US LLC route.
You build products for clients in London and Austin. They want to pay by card, the way they pay everyone else, and you've watched deals cool while a transfer crawls through three banks. You've heard that Stripe "works in Nigeria now". Partly true. What Stripe offers here is built for naira customers, and the founder with dollar clients needs a different door. Here's which one is yours, and how to walk through it without risking a frozen balance.
What Stripe actually offers in Nigeria
Open Stripe's availability page and Nigeria sits alongside Ghana, Kenya, South Africa and Cote d'Ivoire with the label "Extended network". Click it and you land on Paystack, the Lagos payments company Stripe owns. There is no "sign up as a Nigerian business" path on Stripe itself.
For a Nigerian business selling to customers in Nigeria, with the ways they already pay: local cards, bank transfer and USSD.
Stripe's Nigeria payment methods let a US Stripe account accept naira cards and bank transfers through a local merchant of record, settled in US dollars. It's an invite-only preview.
A business registered or based in Nigeria can't open a Stripe account of its own to charge clients abroad in dollars.
Offer 2 is the interesting one. The only business location Stripe lists for those naira methods is the US. So a Nigerian founder with a US LLC could, once invited, take dollar cards from abroad and naira payments from home on one Stripe account. Two catches from Stripe's own page: disputes on those naira payments can't be contested, and refunds close after 365 days.
Nigeria's Stripe is Paystack; dollar clients need a Stripe account in a listed country.
Paystack or a US Stripe account: which fits you?
It comes down to who pays you, and in what currency. Answer two questions.
Naira customers: Paystack. Dollar clients by card: a US LLC with Stripe.
The US LLC route, week by week
The slow part isn't the company. It's the IRS number, because founders without an SSN can't use the online form. Everything else lines up behind it.
- Day 1Company filedA New Mexico or Wyoming LLC is filed online once you sign. You need a name, your passport and your Nigerian address.
- Days 2 to 35EIN from the IRSFiled on Form SS-4 by fax or phone. It can take from a single call to a few weeks; our EIN guide explains why.
- With the EINUS business accountOpened remotely in the LLC's name. We set it up with you, and it almost always goes through. See the US bank account guide.
- NextStripe applicationUnited States, company, your LLC's details, you as representative. Stripe may ask for documents; answer the same day.
- After reviewFirst payoutStripe holds a first-payout waiting period, then pays to the US account on a schedule.
The EIN sets the pace; plan for a few weeks, not a few days.
Your Stripe application, field by field
This is where a Nigerian founder's application lives or dies. Each field below shows what Stripe wants and the truthful way to fill it.
Your LLC's country. Stripe's US rules accept companies registered in the US that operate elsewhere.
Not "individual". The company is the account holder, so the money is the company's.
Exactly as on the IRS letter. A one-letter difference is enough to stall verification.
Stripe rejects PO boxes and asks for the address where activity is based. The registered agent's address is for legal mail; a business address service is quoted before you order.
Yours, as it is. Writing a US home address you don't live at is the single answer most likely to freeze the account later.
Stripe's document list: someone living outside the account's country verifies with a passport only. Not a NIN slip, not a driver's licence.
Stripe's rule for a representative without an SSN or ITIN. After $500,000 of lifetime volume, owners must give SSN or ITIN digits.
Live, public and matching what you described. Part 5 is the checklist.
"Adaeze Studio" is an illustration, not a client.
US company details, your real Lagos address, your passport, your Nigerian tax ID.
Will your website pass Stripe's review?
Stripe looks at your site during activation and keeps looking after. Its website checklist and activation FAQ set out what it expects. Tick what your site already has.
A finished site with policies and contacts is part of the application, not an extra.
What gets a Nigerian-owned Stripe account held or closed
A held balance is rarely random. Stripe's restricted businesses list and its reserves FAQ name the causes. Ranked from what ends accounts to what only slows payouts:
- Ends accountsBorrowed identity or a false address
A diaspora relative's SSN, a friend's Houston flat, a VPN to look American. False information about identity or business is prohibited outright.
- Ends accountsMoving money for others
Collecting payments and passing them on to third parties is peer-to-peer money transfer, which Stripe prohibits. So are get-rich-quick offers and unlicensed resale.
- Freezes fundsActivity that doesn't match the file
Selling something other than what you described, or a sudden unexplained spike in volume.
- Freezes fundsDisputes piling up
Chargebacks you don't answer. Keep contracts, delivery evidence and chat logs for each client.
- Slows payoutsA reserve
Part of your balance held, usually for 30 to 90 days, for long delivery times or a risky model. Payments still go through.
Sanctions apply to every account as well: transactions involving sanctioned countries, regions or people are prohibited, so know where your clients are.
Be the person on the file, sell what you said, and answer every dispute.
Getting the dollars into Nigeria: domiciliary accounts in 2026
The Central Bank launched the Foreign Exchange Manual, 4th edition on 15 May 2026. Memorandum 20 sets out four kinds of domiciliary account: ordinary, export proceeds, external and non-resident. Two matter to you.
- Unfettered and unrestricted access to the funds, in the Manual's words
- Withdraw as cash, transfer or draft
- Form A not required to send money out, though the bank records the purpose
- Cash deposits up to USD 10,000 a day usable by telegraphic transfer
- Access for eligible transactions, with documents for each one
- No cash withdrawals
- Can move to an ordinary account at another bank for an eligible transaction
- Can be sold to any authorised dealer bank
Three rules worth knowing before the first wire
- No source-of-funds question at opening. The Manual says you aren't required to disclose where deposited funds come from, but anti-money-laundering rules still apply, and banks will ask about large or unusual credits.
- Dollars aren't spent inside Nigeria. Using foreign currency to pay for goods and services in Nigeria is prohibited unless a law allows it. Convert first.
- Your bank chooses the designation. Ask before your LLC sends anything whether fees from your own company land as ordinary or export proceeds, because the access rules differ.
Make the wire easy to read: a services agreement between you and your LLC, a monthly invoice, and a transfer from the LLC's US account that names the service. Your bank's compliance team sees a business paying a contractor, which is what it is.
An ordinary domiciliary account gives full access; export proceeds accounts need documents and allow no cash.
The Nigeria Tax Act 2025 and your US company
From 1 January 2026, the Nigeria Tax Act 2025 replaced the old income tax laws, and the Nigeria Revenue Service took over from the Federal Inland Revenue Service. Three provisions decide how your setup is taxed.
You're taxed on income from anywhere. A resident individual's income is "deemed to accrue in Nigeria" wherever it arises, whether or not you bring it home. Leaving profit in the US doesn't keep it out of your return.
Your LLC can count as a Nigerian company. The Act's definition of "Nigerian company" includes a company whose central or effective place of management or control is Nigeria. A US LLC run day to day from Lagos is exactly the case this reaches.
Undistributed profits can be treated as paid out. Where a Nigerian company controls a foreign company that keeps its profits, the share that could have been distributed is added to the Nigerian company's profits. The NRS sets the detailed rules.
You count as resident if you're domiciled here, keep a home available here, habitually live here, have substantial economic and family ties here, or spend 183 days or more in a 12-month period here. Most founders reading this meet several of those at once.
Your personal income tax bands
The Fourth Schedule sets the rates on an individual's taxable income after reliefs. Enter a yearly figure in naira.
After reliefs and exemptions, as the Act computes it.
Personal income tax on individuals stays with the internal revenue service of the state you live in, such as Lagos; company tax goes to the NRS.
- Whether your LLC's place of effective management makes it a "Nigerian company" for tax, and what it then files.
- How fees from your LLC, or profits it keeps, appear in your own return.
- Which domiciliary designation your bank applies, and the records to keep for it.
- How US filings such as Form 5472 line up with your Nigerian ones.
We handle the US company and its filings. The Nigerian treatment is your accountant's call, made before the money moves.
Since 2026, a US LLC managed from Nigeria can be taxed as a Nigerian company; get advice first.
What the US side costs, year one and after
Heirson's prices, government fees included. Stripe's own fees, a business address and your Nigerian accountant are priced by them.
Form 5472 is the one founders forget: it's due every April even with no US income, and the penalty for missing it is $25,000. That's why it sits on the yearly bill. For how the five states compare on cost and privacy, see the US LLC guide.
$99 to start in New Mexico; budget $179 a year for Form 5472 from year two.
Questions Nigerian founders ask
Is Stripe available in Nigeria?
Can I open a Stripe account with a Nigerian passport?
Do I need to live in the US or have an SSN?
Should I use Paystack instead?
Can Stripe pay into my Nigerian domiciliary account?
Do I still pay tax in Nigeria if the money stays in the US?
Is FIRS still the tax authority?
New Mexico or Wyoming for Stripe?
Building from Pakistan? The SBP and FBR rules change the second half of the route: Stripe in Pakistan.
Changelog
- 13 November 2026: first published, with Stripe's country list and Nigeria payment methods, its US account and verification rules, the CBN Foreign Exchange Manual 4th edition and the Nigeria Tax Act 2025.
A US company for your Stripe account, run honestly from Lagos.
We form the LLC, get the EIN without an SSN and set up the US account with you, so your next client can pay by card.