Electronic Transfer Levy Regulation 2022 Implemented
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The Nigerian government has begun rolling out the Electronic Transfer Levy recently signed by the Minister of Finance, Budget, and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed.

The levy is a tax on electronic transfers and will help raise revenue for the government.

The EMT levy was introduced in the Finance Act 2020, which amended the Stamp Duty Act to tap into Nigeria's growth in electronic funds transfer.

Ahmed signed the regulation under Section 89A(3) of the Finance Act 2021.

The N50 levy is charged on electronic funds transfers of N10,000 or more deposited in any bank or financial institution, Legit reported.

The Nigerian Central Bank (CBN) will set the exchange rates for any receipts processed in other currencies. The regulation assigns the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) as the administrator of the Levy, with responsibility for monitoring, collecting, and reporting the levy.

The Federal Government has estimated that it will generate N136.3 billion in revenue from Electronic Money Transfers (ETM) in 2023. This is based on a projected 2.7 billion eligible online transfers in the year.

The government has mandated that banks must collect and remit the money transfer levy to the FIRS within 24 hours or the next working day

The government said it will also properly monitor banks and other financial institutions to make sure they are conducting reconciliation, deduction, and remittance of the levy.

Any bank that fails to collect the Levy will be charged a penalty of 150% of the Levy not collected. If the bank collects the Levy but doesn't give it to FIRS, the bank will have to pay the Levy plus a penalty of 50% and interest at the CBN Monetary Policy rate.

Also, banks that fail to render the proper returns of the levies collected, that initiate reversed transactions, or that render incomplete or inaccurate returns to the FIRS, shall be liable to a penalty of 10%.

Nigerians express their concern on social media

Many Nigerians took to social media to express their frustration after finding that money had been withdrawn from their accounts without any prior notice or announcement.

"What is Electronic Money Transfer," asked one user.

"Explain which one is this ELECTRIC MONET TRANSFER LEVY AGAIN," said another user.

Another user assumed that they would start using crypto to avoid all the 'unnecessary billing' from Nigerian banks.