The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has collected a total of N309.449 billion in stamp duty between January 2016 and August 2023.
It has also exceeded its stamp duty target by close to N3 billion.
The projected stamp duty budget target for 2023 was N44.47 billion but as at August 2023, the FIRS has collected N47.15 billion.
Documents have shown that, in 2016 the Federal Government realised N5.63 billion in 2016, N10.94 billion in 2017 and N17.36 billion in 2018.
Similarly, the FIRS collected N18.19 billion as stamp duty proceeds in 2019, N120.16 billion in 2020, N44.46 billion in 2021 and N45.57 billion in 2022.
The document further indicated that, N50 stamp duty on electronic transactions warehoused at CBN from 2016 – 2020, totalling N59.35 billion included in the 2020 collections.
Another collection in the 2020 collection was N37.67 billion being stamp duty on electronic transactions for that year following its introduction in the Finance Act 2020.
However, N262.30 billion realised from January 2016 to last December has been shared among the three tiers of government.
A source familiar with the matter stated that, “What is left for sharing from stamp duty collection is what will be harvested in 2023″.
The Stamp Duty Act states that the “collections shall be disbursed in the following manner among the named entities and persons: The Federal Government of Nigeria-14 per cent continuously; the Nigeria Governors’ Forum-73 per cent continuously; FIRS-four per cent continuously, the coordinating Consultants-five per cent (one off) the Federal Government Legal Team-two per cent (One off); School of Banking Honours and Others-two per cent (One off)”.
Chargeable Transactions are: Power of Attorney (PoA), Deed of Assignment, Certificates of Occupancy (C of O), Sales Agreement, Proxy forms, Appointment of Receiver, Legal Mortgage or Debentures, Tenancy or Lease Agreements, Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), Insurance Policies, Joint Venture Agreements (JVA), Contract Agreements, Guarantor’s form, Vending Agreement, Ordinary Agreements Receipts, Promissory Notes, Charter-Party and Contract Notes. Chargeable transactions for stamp duties include ad-valorem instruments and fixed duty instruments.
Stamp Duty is a tax charged on physical and electronic instruments.The Stamp Duties Act governs the administration of stamp duties.
It has undergone several amendments over the years to accommodate changes in business transactions such as e-commerce and cross-border transactions.
The most recent amendment was the Finance Act of 2019, which vested responsibilities for the administration of stamp duties, with the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) being the sole competent tax authority to assess, collect and account for stamp duty in Nigeria.
Executive Chairman, FIRS, Muhammad Nami, stated that the collection performance of Stamp Duties is only a small fraction of itsrevenue potentials.
He however stated that, with the amendment and implementation of the Stamp Duty Act as well as streamlining administrative processes, and conducting audits and recovery exercises, there will be a significant increase in its efficiency.
Nami said, “The introduction of the FIRS Stamp Duties Adhesive Stamp will, among other things: plug the revenue sink-hole, enable proper accountability and transparency, simplify administration of Stamp Duties, and reduce disputes”.
He attributed the low collection performance in the past on the reliance on Postage Stamps to denote Stamp Duties.
