The Federal Government has directed commercial banks in the country to henceforth deduct and remit 0.375% on all loans disbursed by them.
The deduction is to be made on the principal loan amount, according to a message sent to customers by banks.
This comes as the government expands the net on transactions covered by the stamp duty charges from regular bank transfers to foreign transactions and now loans.
Recall that banks were also in January this year directed to deduct stamp duty on old foreign transactions between January 2021 to December 2023 by January 31, 2024. Before that, the electronic money transfer levy was only applicable to accounts receiving electronic deposits of N10,000 and above or its equivalent.
In a message sent to their customers on Wednesday notifying them of the deduction, one of the banks wrote:
According to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Stamp Duty is an indirect tax in Nigeria governed by the Stamp Duties Act (SDA), CAP S8 LFN 2004 (as amended).
Meanwhile, the current Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr. Wale Edun, while briefing the Senate earlier this month expressed optimism that with measures already put in place, the Federal Government is expecting an increase in non-oil revenues from revenue-generating agencies to exceed the N13 trillion recorded in 2023, by the end of 2024.