The revised Electronic Transaction Levy (e-levy) rate of 1.0% is expected to take effect today, January 11, 2022, as announced by the Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications.
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A statement from the chamber confirming the implementation noted that “as captured in the Electronic Transfer Levy (Amendment) Act, 2022, Act 1089 which has been passed by parliament and assented to by the President, the levy on electronic transfers has been reduced from 1.5% to 1%, while the GH₵100 threshold remains unchanged.”
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The directive is in line with policies outlined by the Finance Minister in the 2023 Budget Statement and Economic Policy.
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Reading the Budget Statement, Mr Ofori-Atta noted the E-Levy Act will be reviewed “and more specifically, the headline rate will be reduced from 1.5% to 1% of the transaction value.”
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He also announced the removal of the daily threshold of GH₵100, however, after debating the matter, Parliament approved only the revised rate.
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The E-levy since its implementation has been greeted with mixed reactions from the public. While it’s implementers believed it was the surest way to raise revenue for the state, the tax measure was highly criticised by another section of the public who argued that it was not only a way of double taxing citizens or Mobile Money (MoMo) users, but also, it had the tendency of collapsing the MoMo business.
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Nonetheless, the levy was approved by Parliament in a dramatic way, after which its implementation took effect on May 1, 2022.
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Fews months later, the government disclosed that the tax did not rake in the expected revenue and a leading member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Gabby Otchere-Darko, stated that the levy generated only 10% of the expected revenue.
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“After 5 months of stalemate and bashing, the e-levy, after implementation, is delivering only 10% of estimated revenues; our revenues remain very low as compared to the rest of the world; debt levels dangerously high, cedi, like most currencies, struggling against the US dollar,” he wrote in tweet.
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Meanwhile, the Chamber has given the public the assurance that its members are working feverishly with the Ghana Revenue Authority and other crucial institutions to ensure a smooth implementation of the updated electronic transfer levy.
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Source: The Independent Ghana
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