Treasury eyes N483.73b tax revenue in 3 years
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL) is expected to fetch N483.73 billion revenue for the treasury in three years, as projected by the Budget Office in its 2023-2025 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper.
EMTL was introduced in the Finance Act 2020 which amended the Stamp Duty Act to scrape tax from electronic fund transfers nationwide.
It is a one-off charge of N50 on electronic receipt or transfer of N10,000 and above deposited in any type of account in a bank or financial institution.
EMTL revenue is shared among the three tiers of government.
The document of the Budget Office – which is in the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning – anticipates EMTL intakes of N137.03 billion in 2023, N157.59 billion (2024), and N189.11 billion (2025).
The tax yielded N111.84 billion in 2021, it disclosed, per reporting by The PUNCH.
However, since the pandemic in 2020, e-payment transactions have soared, broadband coverage has improved, and payment gateways have stabilised.
Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) data shows increases in the value of e-transactions between 2019 and the first four months of 2022 (4M 2022) as follows:
- 2019 – N108.42 trillion
- 2020 – N162.89 trillion
- 2021 – N278.38 trillion
- 4M 2022 – N117.33 trillion
The NIBSS said e-payments rose as people transitioned to e-channels for funds exchange in the wake of the pandemic.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) added that the value of mobile money transactions in Nigeria increased to 9.72 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2020 because of Covid.
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Big win for treasury, negative impact on business
“It is very clear that more and more people are accepting the channels of payment that are available and the platforms are stable,” NIBBSS Corporate Communications Head Lilian Phido told The PUNCH.
“With stability, these components have grown. With stability more and more people moving.”
Association of Mobile Money Agents in Nigeria (AMMAN) National President Victor Olojo said: “Yes it [EMTL] will continue to increase with the boom. With what I know about the levy, it is a stamp duty championed by the Nigerian Postal Service for the Federal Government.
“It is a huge meaningful source of revenue to them, although it might not be as significant. For every transaction above N10,000 that enters your account, the stamp duty is automatically deducted. It is a big win for the Federal Government.
“However, it has an impact on businesses. For some merchants, say a supermarket that does about 100 transactions in a day and gets charged N50 on each transaction, this is away from the cost of running the business.
“It would have been nice if the value of this N50 payment is seen in form of basic amenities.
“Presently, it appears like a rip-off as businesses still have to pay taxes, Value Added Tax, without commensurate impact. It has a negative impact on businesses since there is no visible impact.”