In spite the directive by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)
that N50 Point of Sale (PoS) Stamp Duty charge should be collected from
businesses and not customers, some retail outlets are still collecting the fee.
The retail outlets in the e-payment value chain such as
filling stations and supermarkets, which are supposed to be paying the Stamp
Duty fee themselves as it is a merchant charge, not a customer charge, have
continued to collect the illegal fee from customers.
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Speaking on the trend, the President of the Bank Customers
Association of Nigeria, Uju Ogubunka, said that the actions being carried out
by the businesses in spite of the CBN’s directive were condemnable and that it
should stop.
He called on the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation
(NNPC) to ensure compliance with the directive by marketers while also urging
the CBN to ensure full compliance’s across retail shops.
“I expect the CBN to move beyond its directive that bank
customers reject the fee and fight for customers. Another option is for the
customers to carry cash and avoid the fee where the risks are minimal.”
Ogubunka said.
On the other hand, the CBN Director, Payment System
Management Department, Musa Jimoh, according to The Nation, advised customers
to reject the N50 PoS fee. He emphasized the fact that the stamp duty which is
a fee regulated by an Act has been misinterpreted by many.
“Our circular that talks about merchants paying stamp duty
according to the law does not say that the stamp duty should be paid by the
consumer. That’s actually a misrepresentation of the CBN’s directive.
“What our directive says is that merchants should pay all
necessary charges as regulated by the government agency, including stamp duty.
When there is an electronic transaction to an account other than savings
account and the transaction amount is more than N1,000, you have to pay stamp
duty,” the CBN official said and quoted by The Nation.
Data obtained from the Nigerian Inter-Bank Settlement Scheme
disclosed that depositors across banks did transactions worth N97.32 trillion
over the instant payment and Point of Sales (PoS) in the last 11 months.
While a total of N94.49 trillion worth transaction were
conducted via the instant payment platform, another N2.83 trillion were carried
out by banks’ depositors on the PoS platform within the same period under
review.