⚠️ Historical term. The CRA was abolished when the Nigeria Tax Act 2025 took effect on 1 January 2026. It no longer applies to PAYE. Its closest replacement is rent relief.
The Consolidated Relief Allowance (CRA) was a tax-free allowance under Nigeria's old income tax law, ₦200,000 plus 20% of gross income, deducted from your earnings before income tax was calculated.
In practice, the CRA shielded roughly 21% of most salaries from tax. It applied automatically to every employee, no paperwork needed, and was the single biggest relief under the old Personal Income Tax Act regime (which taxed the rest in bands from 7% to 24%).
That whole structure is gone. From 2026, the new system works differently: the first ₦800,000 of annual income (after deductions) is simply taxed at 0%, and the automatic CRA has been replaced by rent relief, 20% of the annual rent you actually pay, capped at ₦500,000, and only if you declare your rent. Pension, NHF and life assurance contributions remain deductible as before.
Nigerian example: in 2025, an employee on ₦200,000/month automatically got a CRA of ₦680,000 a year. In 2026, that same employee gets no CRA, instead, the first ₦800,000 of their income is tax-free, and they can claim rent relief if they declare their rent.
If a payroll spreadsheet or blog post still mentions CRA, it's out of date. Check any salary under the current rules with the free calculator or read how to calculate PAYE in Nigeria.