On September 17th, 2019, the Central Bank of Nigeria released a circular mandating a stamp duty fee of N50 on every transaction by Nigerian merchants worth N10,000 or more. There’s been some confusion regarding how it works, what payment methods are covered etc. In this short guide, we’ll explain how it works and how we’re implementing this for our Nigerian merchants.

What is stamp duty?

Stamp duty is a tax on financial transactions and on official documents. Legal documents such as receipts, cheques, and marriage licences have had stamp duty mandated for them.

What do I need to know about stamp duty as a merchant?

1 The receiver pays the 50 Naira stamp duty, not the sender. So unlike our transaction fees that you can make the customer pay, you can’t make the customer pay the stamp duty. You can review your prices to include it.

2 The CBN’s 17th September circular mandates it. Every transaction that terminates on a payment channel (PoS/Web) is subject to the N50 stamp duty. This means this policy affects all our Nigerian merchants.

3 The 50 Naira stamp duty charge only applies to transactions worth 10,000 Naira or more.

4. We’re going to be implementing this stamp duty charge automatically for Nigerian merchants so as a Flutterwave merchant your business will be up to date with the new policy.

How can I make the most of this change?

Since you can’t pass this 50 Naira stamp duty to customers on checkout, you might want to review your prices to reflect this. PoS merchants have already implemented this and the charge reflects in each transaction.

TL;DR; every Nigerian merchant has to pay a stamp duty fee of N50 on every transaction worth N10000 or more. We’re automating this charge for our merchants so you never have to worry about it. If this fee is going to erode your margins, consider reviewing your prices to accommodate the charge.

If you have any questions, please visit our FAQ page or contact us. Our Customer Support Team is available 24/7.

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