To further clarify its stance on payment of stamp duty by merchants, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has asked bank customers not to pay N50 charge to businesses for using point of sale (POS) machines.
The Director, payment system management of the mother bank, Musa Jimoh, in a TV program monitored in Lagos on Monday by The Cable, said that the CBN does not regulate the stamp duty, stating that the Stamp duty has been misinterpreted.
“There have been talks about Nigerians focusing on the CBN charge on deposits when in reality the real focus should have been on additional taxes that are now being incurred on POS transactions.
On the 16th September, the CBN released two circulars. The first circular was titled ‘Implementation of the Cash Policy’.
ALSO READ: BREAKING: Banks to pay N2m fine for excessive charges on customers — CBN
It is the one the public has been debating. But the second one was titled “Review of Process For Merchants Collections on Electronic Payment”. Ever since businesses have been charging N50 for every transaction on POS.”
According to Jimoh: “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 a savings account and the transaction amount is more than N1,000, you have to pay stamp duty.
“Our explanation to banks is that we would like the merchants to comply with this directive by ensuring that every single payment customers make to them, the merchants pay the regulated stamp duty of N50.
“What has happened is that they have transferred this fee, blatantly and openly to the consumers. This is very wrong.
“No single individual should pay N50 in addition to the cost of the good. Stamp duty is not to be paid by individuals that are consuming the goods and services of the merchant. The merchants who are receiving the money are the ones who are supposed to pay.”
It had earlier been reported that consumers would pay more for POS transactions after the CBN said stamp duty would be charged on individual transactions rather than previous plans where charges occurred on aggregate transactions.
and then