Banks Extended Stamp Duty Charges to Savings Accounts

• Banks Extended Stamp Duty Charges to Savings Accounts

The Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) have extended stamp duty charges to savings accounts following the introduction of the Finance Act 2020 by the Federal Government.

Part VII of the Finance Act mandated all bank account owners to pay a singular and one-off stamp duty of N50 on amount from N10,000 and above.

The Part VII of the Finance Act stated that “Notwithstanding the provisions of the Stamp Duties Act, electronic receipt or electronic transfer for money, electronic receipt or electronic transfer for money deposited in any bank or with any banker, on any type of account, to be accounted for and expressed to be received of the person to whom the same is to be accounted for of amounts from N10,000.00 upwards shall attract a singular and one-off duty of the sum of N50.

“Provided that money paid into ones’ own account or transferred electronically between accounts of the same owner by the owner within the same bank shall not be chargeable to duty.”

Deposit Money Banks have started notifying customers of the new development.

In an email forwarded to customers by Zenith Bank Plc, the bank said: “In line with the recently released Finance Act 2020 of the Federal Government which became effective on February 1, 2020, please be informed that Stamp Duty Charges have been extended to Savings accounts.”

The bank further stated that the implication of the Finance Act is that savings accounts are no longer exempted from stamp duty charges.