The federal government is set to net billions of naira with the implementation of the N50 Stamp Duty charge, which the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) directed all deposit money banks and other financial institutions to collect.
It is estimated that about N1.0 billion will be generated from cheque base transactions, asides what will be generated from electronic funds transfer, instant payments and cash deposits.
It is expected that the government will make more money from transfers, as banks’ customers now do more transactions online and through ATM transfers, making cheque transactions shrink.
According to data from the Inter Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) which processes all electronic transactions in the country, over 15 million cheques were processed in 2014 while over 10 million cheques had been processed by the end of 2015 third quarter.
Total electronic funds transfer and instant payments between January and September last year was 71.14 million. As at September 30, 2015, total current accounts in the country stood at 22.06 million.
The CBN had directed that banks and other financial institutions deduct N50 for every deposit above N1000 as stamp duty. Checks by Leadership revealed that most banks had begun to comply with the directive which was supposed to take effect immediately.
The N50 stamp duty is to be charged on all accounts except for savings accounts. Also deposit made by self into self accounts whether inter or intra bank is also not to be charged.