Banks in Nigeria have shared some news about money transactions. They say they will take a look at their customers’ accounts and remove a charge called Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL) for old foreign money transactions. This will happen in January 2023 and will include all the affected transactions from 2021 to 2023.
The banks are doing this because the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) told them to. Last month, FIRS said that banks should take away and give them the EMTL for foreign money transactions from now on.
This tax, or charge, is part of the rules made in the Finance Act 2020 and Stamp Act 2004. These rules say that when people move money from one account to another in a bank, they have to pay a little extra. Before this new rule, the extra charge was only for transactions in the local currency. Now, it includes transactions in foreign currency too.
Access Bank, one of the big banks, sent a message to their customers. They said, “Before, the EMTL charge was only for electronic deposits of N10,000 or more in the local currency. But starting January 2, 2024, the charge will also apply to foreign currency deposits equivalent to N10,000 or more, with a charge of N50 (in foreign currency).”
In simple words, if you get money from someone in another country and it’s N10,000 or more, the bank will take a little bit extra, N50, from that money. This is because of the new rules from the government.
The banks also said they would take away the EMTL charge for foreign currency transactions made from January 2021 to December 2023. They will do this by January 31, 2024. The banks thanked their customers for understanding and trusting them.
This change in the rules is happening because the government wants to collect more money. They say it’s needed to help the country and its people.