Stamp duty on a tenancy or lease, scaled by the lease term.
Stamp duty
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Applied rate
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Term band
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Why a longer lease costs more to stamp
Stamp duty on a lease is a charge on the document itself, the tenancy agreement or lease deed, rather than on the property. What makes a lease different from most stamp-duty instruments is that the rate is not flat. It steps up with the length of the term, because a longer commitment transfers a larger slice of the landlord's interest to the tenant. A one-year shop tenancy and a thirty-year ground lease on the identical yearly rent are taxed at very different rates, and this calculator picks the band that matches the years you enter.
The charge applies to the rent or lease consideration you type in. The tool then reads your term and slots it into one of three bands: up to 7 years, between 7 and 21 years, and above 21 years. It is worth being precise about one mechanical point. The duty is your consideration multiplied by the band rate. It is not multiplied by the number of years. The term only decides which rate applies, so a higher rent moves the duty up in proportion, while a longer term moves it up in steps.
Who you stamp with: federal or state
Stamp duty in Nigeria is split by who the parties are. As a general structure, instruments where at least one party is a company are stamped federally through the FIRS, reconstituted as the Nigeria Revenue Service under the 2025 reform, while instruments strictly between individuals, which is most ordinary residential tenancies, are handled by the relevant state internal revenue service. A personal flat lease in Lagos, for instance, is a state matter. Because lease practice and the exact rate bands can vary in how a state applies them, treat the percentages here as the figures this calculator applies and confirm the live position with your state revenue service before you stamp.
A five-year office lease at NGN 5 million rent
Use the defaults: an annual rent of NGN 5,000,000 on a five-year term, with the rate this calculator applies. Five years falls inside the up-to-7-years band, which carries roughly 0.78 percent here. The duty is the rent times that rate, NGN 39,000. Note what the term does and does not do. It selected the 0.78 percent band, but it did not multiply the figure.
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The chart shows the rent and the stamp duty side by side, so you can see the duty as a share of the consideration for the current inputs.
Stamp it, or it bites you later
An unstamped lease is not a harmless oversight. An instrument that has not been duly stamped is generally inadmissible as evidence in court, so if a rent dispute or an eviction reaches a judge, an unstamped agreement can leave you unable to prove your own terms. Late stamping also attracts penalties on top of the duty. The practical habit is to stamp within the statutory window soon after signing rather than waiting until you need the document. Who pays is a matter of negotiation, though the tenant commonly bears the duty in Nigerian practice.
Is a renewal stamped again?
Generally yes. A renewal or a fresh term is a new instrument and is stamped on its own consideration and its own length. A holdover where you simply stay on under the old agreement is different in character, so if your tenancy is rolling rather than being formally renewed, ask your state revenue service how it treats the continuation before assuming no further duty is due.
How does this sit alongside withholding tax on rent?
They are two separate charges and both can apply to the same letting. Stamp duty is a one-off on the agreement, calculated here. Withholding tax on rent is a deduction the tenant makes from the rent payment itself, at the rate of 10 percent the system applies, and remits to the revenue service. Budget for both, and do not net one against the other, because they answer to different rules.