A document that should have been stamped and was not does not just sit quietly in a drawer. It carries a real cost, and a real weakness if you ever need to rely on it.
The 30-day window
A dutiable document should be stamped within 30 days of signing. This applies across the range of documents the law treats as dutiable, from a tenancy agreement to a property transfer.
The cost of missing it
Miss the window, and 10% of the unpaid duty, plus interest at the CBN Monetary Policy Rate applies to the unpaid duty. Interest of that kind keeps building for as long as the document stays unstamped.
Why a court will not accept it as evidence
Not admissible as evidence, except in criminal proceedings. That is the sharper consequence for many businesses, sharper than the penalty itself.
An unstamped tenancy agreement, for example, may not help a landlord or tenant prove the terms they agreed to. That gap matters most when a dispute over rent or possession reaches court.
The one exception
Criminal proceedings are treated differently. An unstamped document can still be used as evidence there, even though it cannot in an ordinary civil case.
The extra penalty for hiding facts or underpaying
A further, fixed penalty applies on top of the usual one, under a separate section of the same Act. This happens where a dutiable instrument does not disclose all the relevant facts, or where the duty paid on it was simply too low. Check the current figure on the government fees tool or with an adviser before relying on one.
What to do about an old, unstamped document
An old agreement or transfer document that was never stamped is not necessarily a lost cause. It can usually still be stamped late, with the penalty and interest that come with being late attached to it.
Leaving it unstamped indefinitely keeps the risk alive. A dispute can surface years after a document was signed, at exactly the point you need it to hold up.
A quick example
A company that finds an old lease, signed three years ago and never stamped, for example, would still pay 10% of the unpaid duty, plus interest at the CBN Monetary Policy Rate on the original duty, plus the duty itself, to regularise it now.
Common mistakes
- Assuming an old, unstamped document is unstampable now. Late stamping is usually still possible, at a cost.
- Only thinking about the penalty, not the evidence problem. A court not accepting the document can matter more than the money.
- Underpaying the duty to save a little now. That adds its own separate, further penalty.
For two common dutiable documents in detail, read stamp duty on a tenancy agreement and stamp duty on a property transfer. Browse the hub on the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS), formerly FIRS, and Rev360 for more on the wider tax reform.