Several Nigerian banks, including Moniepoint, have notified customers that a 7.5 per cent Value Added Tax (VAT) will now apply to bank transfers and Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) transactions.
According to customer notifications sent out on Wednesday, the VAT charge will take effect from January 19, 2026, following a directive from the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS).
In the notice, the bank explained that the move is part of a government-approved regulatory adjustment on VAT collection across financial services.
“From Monday, January 19, 2026, we are mandated to apply a 7.5 percent VAT, which will be remitted to the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS), previously known as the Federal Inland Revenue Service,” the message stated.
Customers were also informed that the VAT charge is separate from existing deductions, such as the ₦50 stamp duty and other transaction-related bank fees already in place.
As of the time of this report, the NRS has not released an official public statement detailing the scope or implementation framework of the VAT on banking transactions.
It will be recalled that the Executive Chairman of the NRS, Dr. Zacch Adedeji, had earlier dismissed claims that the federal government intended to tax or directly debit individual bank account balances, stressing that such reports were misleading.
