Bank charges, stamp duty and the transfer levy: the money you're not booking

Your cash book says one thing and the bank statement says something slightly smaller. Usually nothing has been stolen. The difference is hundreds of small debits the bank took without a voucher: stamp duty on transfers, transfer fees, SMS alerts and account maintenance.

The short answer: book them every month in one journal, and check the stamp duty against what you expected. Since 1 January 2026 the ₦50 charge sits on your outgoing transfers, not your incoming ones, so rules and budgets set up in 2025 may now be wrong.

What changed on 1 January 2026

The ₦50 EMTL was replaced from 1 January 2026 by a ₦50 stamp duty paid by the sender on transfers of ₦10,000 and above. That is how Nairametrics (31 December 2025) reported it, and PwC Tax Summaries (last reviewed 29 May 2026; checked November 2026) describes stamp duty as "NGN 50 on electronic receipts or transfers of NGN 10,000 or more". TechCabal (22 December 2025) called it "renamed stamp duty and expanded" under the Nigeria Tax Act 2025.

The ₦50 didn't disappear. It changed name and changed sides:

• in 2025 statements, it mostly sat against your incoming transfers;
• in 2026 statements, it sits against your outgoing transfers.

A business that pays hundreds of suppliers, staff allowances or agents will see more ₦50 debits; one that mostly collects will see fewer.

Banks' notices, reported by Nairametrics and Techeconomy, list these exemptions: transfers below ₦10,000, salary payments, and transfers between your own accounts at the same bank. PwC also lists money paid into your own account. If you see ₦50 against a salary run or a same-bank transfer between your own accounts, query it in writing. Transfers between your own accounts at two different banks are not on the list, so the charge may apply there.

Confirm the rules that apply to you with your tax adviser.

The other charges on a Nigerian bank statement

• Transfer fees on outgoing NIP transfers, usually in bands by amount, as set in your bank's tariff.
• SMS alert charges, often one monthly debit per account.
• Account maintenance fees, on terms set by each bank.
• Card fees for issuing, maintaining or replacing business debit cards.
• Other service charges: statements, cheque books, reference letters.
• VAT on fees, sometimes shown as a separate line.

Every bank publishes its own tariff, and each charge is a debit made without telling your accounts team first.

Why unbooked charges cause trouble

Your cash book records what your business decided to pay. The statement records everything that left the account. Until the charges are booked, the two can't agree, and:

1. Real differences hide. If the gap is "about ₦60,000, probably charges", a missing ₦45,000 customer receipt can sit inside it for months.
2. Expenses are understated and cash overstated in every management account.
3. Overcharges go unnoticed. A ₦50 on an exempt transfer, or a maintenance fee charged twice, only shows if someone compares charges with what was expected.
4. Each reconciliation takes longer, because the same lines are carried forward and checked again.

Example figures: a distribution company with one current account, October 2026.

That is ₦673,200 a year from one account. Five operating accounts, or a fintech moving money through wallets daily, multiplies it. See settlement reconciliation for fintechs for the wider picture.

The month-end journal

1. Extract every charge line for the month.
2. Group them by type: stamp duty, transfer fees, SMS, maintenance, card fees, VAT on fees, other.
3. Check stamp duty. Count outgoing transfers of ₦10,000 and above, leave out the exempt types, and multiply by ₦50. A large gap is a matching problem or an overcharge.
4. Query anything outside your bank's tariff, in writing, with dates and amounts.
5. Post one journal per account.

Example figures, from the table above:

Use the account names in your own chart of accounts. Whether stamp duty and VAT on fees are deductible or recoverable depends on your circumstances. Confirm the rules that apply to you with your tax adviser.

Make the journal a named task with an owner and a due date. Closing your books faster at month-end shows how. For the full method, see how to do a bank reconciliation in Nigeria, step by step.

How Brillrec helps

Brillrec is the finance operations platform for Nigerian businesses, with three products: Reconciliation, Internal Control Automation and Financial Close Management.

• Your statement at a glance. Before any matching, Reconciliation shows money in and out, whether the statement adds up, and the month's charges and levies by type, with a one-page PDF to download.
• Charges explained in one step. Bank charges, stamp duty (and EMTL on older statements), SMS fees, VAT on fees and NIP charges are found and explained together, then exported as a journal of adjustments or prepared as a journal for approval, instead of being ticked off line by line.
• Your own explanation types. An admin can add types such as "Stamp duty" or "NIP charge", each with its own ledger code for the journal.
• Journals by plan. Export on every plan; approval by someone other than the preparer on Essential and above; posting to QuickBooks, Sage, Xero and Business Central on Professional and above.
• Statements as your bank sends them. PDF, Excel or CSV from any Nigerian bank, including password-protected PDFs. Brillrec remembers each layout and checks the running balance line by line. Scanned statements too: bring one to the trial.
• Matching for everything else. Remaining lines are matched by reference, NIBSS session ID, amount and date, split and grouped payments, and your own matching rules. Recurring differences can become rules you approve.
• Explaining what's left. Your explanation rules, bank-charge wording, NIP charge amounts and period-end timing are applied first, with no AI. AI is optional: an admin can switch it off, it never signs off or approves, and every use is logged.
• Close tasks that complete themselves. When the reconciliation is signed off, its task in Financial Close Management completes, with who did the work and when.

See pricing for plans.

Frequently asked questions

Who pays the ₦50 stamp duty on bank transfers in 2026?

The sender. The ₦50 EMTL was replaced from 1 January 2026 by a ₦50 stamp duty paid by the sender on transfers of ₦10,000 and above, as reported by Nairametrics and described by PwC.

Is EMTL still charged in 2026?

Not under that name. The ₦50 continues as stamp duty, now borne by the sender. Confirm the rules that apply to you with your tax adviser.

Are transfers below ₦10,000 charged stamp duty?

According to banks' notices reported by Nairametrics and Techeconomy, no. Salary payments and transfers between your own accounts at the same bank are also listed as exempt.

Why is my bank balance lower than my cash book?

Often because bank charges haven't been booked. Book them monthly, then investigate whatever difference remains.

Start your free 14-day trial, no card needed, or book a 20-minute demo.