Nigerians may soon begin to pay higher for stamp duty going by a proposal before the National Assembly for an increase in the cost of postage stamps across the country.
The 2004 Stamp Duties Act, which became effective in January 2016, tied the rate of stamp duty to the cost of postage within the nation.
The PUNCH investigation showed that the Nigerian Postal Service had prepared a proposal that would see the cost of postage across the country go up by about 300 per cent.
Currently, the cost of sending a mail anywhere in the country is N50, while the proposal put the cost of postage at N200. Stamp duty is currently being charged as N50 on deposits into bank accounts with the value of N1,000 and above.
Sources told our correspondent that it was now unrealistic to carry a mail with N50 to any part of the country.
“Even to carry a mail from the Central Area in Abuja to Garki cannot be N50 if not that NIPOST is rendering a social service,” a source said while justifying the proposed increment.
Our correspondent learnt that it was the responsibility of the Utility Board to approve new rates but the National Assembly recently asserted that increase in the prices of utilities was a legislative function and therefore the proposal had to go through it.
It was learnt that if a committee set up by the National Assembly approved the proposal, new stamp rates would apply; and thus, a new stamp duty payable on receipts for transactions with a value of N1,000 and above.
The Postmaster General of the Federation, Mr. Adebisi Adegbuyi, confirmed in an interview with our correspondent in Abuja on Monday that an increase in the cost of postage had been proposed.
He, however, insisted that there must be improvement in service delivery before there would be any increase in the cost of postage stamp.
According to him, areas of improvement include the ability of customers to track and trace their mails, using their mobile phones.
The Central Bank of Nigeria had through a circular issued on January 15, 2016 directed banks to deduct N50 stamp duty on deposits made into current accounts with a value of N1,000 and above in order to boost the government’s revenue drive and in compliance with Stamp Duties Act, 2004.
The apex bank also anchored its directive on a court ruling obtained by Kasmal International Services Limited in 2014 to the effect that the 22 banks operating in the country should remit more than N6tn to NIPOST through the firm as the stamp duty they were supposed to have collected since the Act became a law.
