The Federal government of Nigeria has started the N50 e-levy charge on transactions above N10,000 made by customers of Opay, Moniepoint and other fintech users.
The levy, Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL) deducts a one-off levy on account of any receipt or transfer above N10,000 by customers of fintech companies such as Opay, Palmpay, Moniepoint, and others.
The levy, introduced under the Finance Act 2020, was earlier announced to take effect from September 9. But due to reasons not explained, the development did not take effect. In a new development, fintech companies, Opay, Moniepoint, Palmpay and others notified their customers that the commencement of the N50 EMTL deduction will kick start from December 1, 2024.
In a statement sent to its customers on Saturday, Moniepoint expressed that it has started the EMTL N50 charges. It then pointed out that the levy would be remitted to the Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS).
“Dear customer, you will be charged stamp duty of N%) on inflows of N10,000 and above. Moniepoint collects and remits this on behalf and to FIRS,” Moniepoint says.
Opay, one of the most used fintech, also sent a message to its users across its app on Saturday. The company explained that the electronic levy deduction begins on December 1, 2024. “Dear Customer, in line with the FIRS, the EMTL applies starting from December 1st, 2024,” the message reads.
According to information gathered by Technext, the EMTL implementation has officially taken effect with Fintechs already deducting N50 for the FIRS on transactions of N10,000 and above.
The EMTL levy, previously applicable only to commercial banks, has now extended to fintech companies which has now ended the era of free banking services that many of these platforms offered.
