How Nigeria’s New Tax Rules Will Make Every Bank Transfer More Expensive from 2026
From January 2026, sending ₦50,000 through your bank or fintech app could quietly cost you ₦100 in transfer fees. Not because your bank has raised its charges, but because the Nigerian government has changed the rules on who pays for electronic transfers — and how often they pay.
Five years after replacing stamp duty with the Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL), the federal government is bringing stamp duties back into the heart of Nigeria’s digital payments system. New budget documents tied to the Nigeria Tax Act 2025 show that EMTL has been renamed, expanded, and fundamentally restructured. The result is a subtle but far-reaching shift that will affect millions of Nigerians who rely on electronic transfers for daily transactions.
Introduced in 2020, EMTL imposed a flat, one-off ₦50 charge on electronic transfers of ₦10,000 and above. The levy was deducted from funds received, meaning the receiver — not the sender — bore the cost. It was designed as part of the government’s effort to diversify revenue away from oil and tap into Nigeria’s rapidly expanding digital payments ecosystem, which crossed ₦1 quadrillion in transaction value in 2024.
Under the new regime, that logic changes.
What the new stamp duty regime means
From January 2026, EMTL will no longer exist as a standalone levy. Instead, it has been subsumed under a broader stamp duty framework created by the Nigeria Tax Act 2025. According to the law, stamp duties will now apply not just to electronic transfers, but to a wide range of “chargeable instruments,” including tax stamps, electronic tagging, electronic receipts, and certificate issuance.
“Compliance with the approved Regulations governing the administration of Stamp Duties will be enforced to ensure full collections over the medium term,” the federal government stated in its budget documents.
For everyday bank and fintech transfers, the most important change is this: the ₦50 charge is no longer a one-off deduction on funds received. Instead, the obligation shifts squarely to the sender. Stamp duty becomes an additional cost layered on top of existing transfer fees, and it applies every time money is sent.
What was once a barely noticeable deduction on incoming funds now becomes a visible, repeated expense for anyone initiating a transfer.
How much more Nigerians will pay
At present, most bank customers already pay transfer fees set by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN): ₦10 for transfers below ₦5,000, ₦25 for transfers between ₦5,001 and ₦50,000 and ₦50 for transfers above ₦50,000.
From 2026, sending ₦10,000 or more will attract stamp duty on top of these fees. In practical terms, that means a transfer that currently costs ₦25 could rise to ₦75, while one that costs ₦50 could jump to ₦100.
The recipient, however, will receive the full amount sent — a change from the EMTL era, when ₦50 was automatically deducted from incoming funds above ₦10,000.
For individuals who send money frequently — salaries, rent, school fees, family support, business payments — the added cost may seem small in isolation, but it accumulates quickly. Over weeks and months, repeated ₦50 deductions could significantly raise the cost of using digital payments.
Winners and losers in the shift
For businesses, especially those that receive frequent payments, the change offers some relief. Under EMTL, companies often had to explain to customers why ₦50 was missing from transfers received. With the burden now on senders, businesses no longer need to absorb or justify that deduction.
Point-of-sale (PoS) agents also stand to benefit operationally. Many agents currently build the EMTL charge into withdrawal fees, making transactions more expensive and confusing for customers. Removing the ₦50 deduction on incoming transfers simplifies pricing — although customers initiating transfers will still pay more overall.
However, the shift also concentrates costs on transaction initiators. Where the burden was previously split — sender paying transfer fees, receiver paying EMTL — the sender now bears almost the entire cost of digital transfers.
Implications for fintech platforms
The new stamp duty regime could be particularly challenging for fintech companies such as OPay, PalmPay and Moniepoint, which built rapid growth by offering cheap or free transfers. Nigeria’s digital payments boom was fuelled by speed, convenience and affordability. Each additional layer of fees chips away at that advantage.
While fintechs may absorb some costs to remain competitive, sustained fee increases could force them to rethink pricing models, introduce minimum charges, or limit free transactions. For users who migrated from cash to digital platforms because they were cheaper, the changes may dampen enthusiasm.
Digital payments thrived because they removed friction. Stamp duty, while fiscally useful, adds friction back into the system.
A growing revenue engine for government
From the government’s perspective, the logic is clear. EMTL has become a small but steadily growing source of non-oil revenue. In 2024 alone, it generated ₦219.11 billion, exceeding its ₦174.24 billion projection. Between January and July 2025, EMTL had already delivered ₦211.75 billion — more than 92% of its full-year target.
That growth was driven largely by the expansion of EMTL beyond traditional banks. Initially, only bank transfers were covered. Since December 2024, fintech platforms such as OPay, PalmPay and Moniepoint have been fully brought into the net, dramatically widening the tax base.
With stamp duty replacing EMTL, revenue expectations rise sharply. The government projects ₦456.07 billion in stamp duty revenue in 2026, increasing to ₦579.82 billion in 2027 and ₦752.45 billion in 2028. These figures are already embedded in Nigeria’s medium-term expenditure framework, making stamp duty a pillar of fiscal planning.
Who gets the money?
Another quiet but significant change lies in revenue sharing. Under EMTL, proceeds were shared as follows: 15% to the federal government, 50% to state governments, and 35% to local governments.
Under the new tax law, the federal government’s share drops to 10%, while states receive 55%. Local governments retain the remaining portion. This shift reflects ongoing efforts to strengthen subnational finances, particularly as states face mounting obligations and limited revenue sources.
Part of a wider tax overhaul
Replacing EMTL with stamp duty is only one piece of a broader tax reform package scheduled to take effect in January 2026. According to government documents, the reforms are aimed at improving tax collection efficiency and growing non-oil revenue in a period of fiscal strain.
“The new tax laws were enacted to improve tax collection and grow non-oil revenue,” the government said.
With oil revenues volatile and borrowing costs rising, the appeal of predictable, technology-driven revenue streams like stamp duty is obvious. Digital transactions are easy to track, difficult to evade, and expanding rapidly.
The hidden cost of convenience
For everyday Nigerians, the extra ₦50 per transaction may feel insignificant. But multiplied across millions of daily transfers — salaries, remittances, market payments, school fees — it adds up to hundreds of billions of naira annually.
At the same time, it steadily erodes the affordability that made digital payments attractive in the first place. In a country where cash shortages, insecurity, and long bank queues once pushed people online, higher costs could slow adoption or push low-income users back towards informal cash channels.
Stamp duty may strengthen government finances, but it also reshapes behaviour. From 2026, every transfer tells a new story: one where convenience comes at a slightly higher price, and Nigerians pay for fiscal stability ₦50 at a time, every time they send money.
