According to the Ghana Revenue Authority, the Electronic Transfer Levy (e-levy) is already generating considerable revenue for the government.
GRA’s Project Unit Head, Isaac Kwabena Amoako, stated that collections from a single charging entity totaled more than one million cedis in a single day.
“The letters we sent to the charging entities were that, after every 48 hours, they should send us the Money. So our first Money should have come on Tuesday, but it didn’t come then we went to Wednesday and we saw some making attempts. So on Thursday, we went on our internal system [the Tax Application System] and we saw the invoices and we collated the invoices.
“As of the close of Thursday, we had had the invoice of a number of charging entities and one of the charging entities which owns more than 70% of the population had in excess of GH₵1million for just one day. So assuming all the others are not paying and this entity alone sends GH₵1million every day for 30 days. This means we are getting GH₵30million per month from just one charging entity.
Mr. Kwabena Amoako revealed this on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show on Monday, May 9, while providing a report on the levy’s implementation after a week.
All electronic transfers are subject to a 1.5 percent e-Levy.
Read Also: Egypt arrests teenagers for harassing female tourists at pyramids
The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) implemented it on May 1, 2022, following the passage of the E-levy Bill by Parliament and assent by President Akufo-Addo.
The fee will be applied to mobile money transactions between accounts on the same electronic money issuer, as well as mobile money transfers from one electronic money issuer to another.
Transfers from bank accounts to mobile money accounts and transfers from mobile money accounts to bank accounts are further examples.
However, the Minister of Finance shall decide bank transfers on an instant pay digital platform or application originating from a bank account to a person subject to a daily threshold.
The government adopted the E-Levy in the 2022 Budget for fundamental transactions including digital payments and electronic platform transactions.
The fee would apply to daily electronic transactions exceeding GH100. This differs from the rate charged by some telecom operators on mobile money transactions.
SOURCE: myjoyonline