Ad valorem stamp duty on the transfer of shares or stock.
Stamp duty due
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Transfer value
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Cost incl. duty
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What gets taxed when shares change hands
Selling or gifting shares in a Nigerian company is a transfer of property, and the instrument that records it, the share transfer form, carries ad valorem stamp duty. This calculator charges that duty on the value of the shares moving, at the rate this tool applies of about 1.5 percent. The duty is what makes the instrument valid for the company secretary to register the new owner in the register of members. Until it is stamped, the buyer is not properly on the books, however much money has changed hands.
Value here means the consideration, the price actually paid, or the market value where the transfer is a gift or is between connected parties for less than worth. The tool takes the number you enter and applies the single ad valorem rate, so a larger parcel of shares produces a proportionally larger duty. There are no bands and no fixed minimum in the model this calculator uses.
Buying NGN 5 million of shares
Take a purchase of shares worth NGN 5,000,000. Using the rate this calculator applies, the buyer pays NGN 75,000 in stamp duty, which is the value multiplied by 1.5 percent. Add that to the price and the all-in cost of acquiring the stake is NGN 5,075,000 before any broker or legal fees.
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The stacked bar below shows the buyer's outlay: the large share price with the duty layered on top, so you can see the duty as a slim band sitting above the consideration.
Stamp duty is not the seller's tax
Here is the interaction that trips people up. Stamp duty on the transfer is the buyer's cost and attaches to the document. The seller faces a different question entirely: tax on any gain made on the disposal. Under the 2026 reform a gain on shares for an individual generally folds into chargeable income and is taxed at the personal income tax bands, while a company's gain is taxed at the prevailing companies income tax rate. So one deal can generate both a stamp duty bill for the buyer and a gains charge for the seller. They are separate, they are paid by different people, and one is never a substitute for the other.
Worth knowing too: certain share disposals can be relieved, for instance where proceeds are reinvested or where the gains in a twelve-month period fall below the threshold the system sets, and pension-fund disposals are treated favourably. That relief touches the seller's gains position, not the buyer's stamp duty, which remains due on the instrument regardless. Because the 1.5 percent figure is knowledge-based rather than certified, treat it as the rate this calculator applies and confirm the live share-transfer rate with the FIRS, reconstituted as the Nigeria Revenue Service under the 2025 reform.
A note for listed shares
Transactions on the Nigerian Exchange run through a different, lighter set of transaction costs handled by the broker and the exchange, rather than a manual share transfer form stamped at 1.5 percent. This calculator fits private and unlisted company transfers, the kind done by deed between named parties, far better than a screen trade in a listed stock. If you are buying quoted shares through a stockbroker, the contract note already itemises the levies that apply, and this tool is not the right reference for that.
Is duty due if I gift shares to family for free?
Generally yes. A gift is still a transfer of the shares, and the duty is assessed on the market value rather than the zero price, so a no-money transfer is not a no-duty transfer. The revenue service can substitute a fair value where parties are connected, which stops people stamping a valuable holding at a nominal sum. Value the shares honestly and stamp on that figure.
What happens if the transfer is never stamped?
The company should not register an unstamped transfer, so the buyer can end up holding shares they cannot prove they own and cannot vote or receive dividends on cleanly. An unstamped instrument is also generally inadmissible in evidence, which matters if ownership is ever disputed. Stamping promptly after signing, and within any statutory window to avoid penalties, is the safe course.