A small, fixed charge sits on many electronic transfers in Nigeria. Since the start of 2026, it comes out of a different account than it used to.
The charge, and what triggers it
₦50 applies once an electronic transfer reaches ₦10,000. It is a fixed amount, not a percentage, so it does not grow with the size of a larger transfer.
The January 2026 switch
Before 1 Jan 2026, the recipient's account carried this charge. Since then, the sender pays it instead.
That is a real change in whose balance moves. A business receiving customer payments by transfer keeps slightly more of each one now, while a business paying suppliers by transfer carries the charge itself.
The transfers that are exempt
Not every transfer attracts the charge. Transfers below ₦10,000, salary payments and transfers between your own accounts in the same bank.
A salary paid by transfer is exempt for this reason. So is a small transfer under the threshold, and moving money between your own accounts at the same bank.
Why it is deducted automatically
Banks and fintechs apply this charge themselves, at the point of transfer. You do not calculate or remit it separately.
That also means a mistake is more likely to show up as an unexpected deduction on a statement than as a filing you missed. Check your own transfers against the threshold and the exemptions if a deduction looks wrong.
This differs from withholding tax, which a business calculates and remits itself. Here, the bank or fintech does that work automatically, and your only real task is checking the result each month.
A quick example
Send ₦15,000 to a supplier at another bank, for example, and the charge applies, since the transfer is above the threshold and does not fall under any exemption. Send ₦8,000, and it does not, since that sits below the threshold.
Keeping this straight in your books
A business making many transfers a month should track this charge separately from the transfer amount itself. It is deducted outside the payment you actually intended to send or receive, so it needs its own line in your records rather than being folded into the transfer total.
Common mistakes
- Assuming the recipient still pays. That changed on 1 Jan 2026.
- Expecting a percentage-based charge. ₦50 is fixed, regardless of transfer size, once the threshold is crossed.
- Not checking whether a transfer between your own accounts qualifies for the exemption. It only applies where both accounts sit at the same bank.
For the wider law this charge sits inside, read the Nigeria Tax Act 2025 explained, and browse the hub on the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS), formerly FIRS, and Rev360 for more on the 2025 reforms. Check current government fees on the government fees tool.