Full roll out of E-levy begins July 1

The Ghana Revenue Authority(GRA) has served notice of full implementation of the Electronic Transfer Levy effective July 01, 2022.

This was contained in a letter dated June 22, 2022 to all Charging entities reminding them of the full implementation of the E-levy.

“This is to officially remind you that the full implementation of the Electronic Transfer Levy starts on the 1st July, 2022.

“All Charging Entities, including your organization are expected to integrate to the Ghana Revenue Authority’s Electronic Levy Management and Assurance System (ELMAS) commonly referred to as the Common Platform on or before 28th June 2022 for GO LIVE on 1st July, 2022,” a copy of the letter sighted by Kasapafmonline.com read.

The Charging Entities include Electronic Money Issuers, Payment Service Providers, Banks, Specialised Deposit-Taking Institutions, and other Financial Institutions prescribed by Regulations made under the Act among others.

The GRA however warned that failure to integrate to the GO LIVE on July 01, 2022, will attract sanctions under the Revenue Administration Act of 2016, Act 915.

This comes on the back of the revelation by a leading member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko that the tax measure since its implementation has generated only 10% of estimated revenue.

The government commenced the implementation of the levy on May 1, 2022, after its initial announcement in the 2022 budget.

The E-levy was reduced from 1.75% to 1.5% following protests from various stakeholders.

The reduction was considered insufficient by groups that were calling for the levy to be scrapped.

The government had targeted to rake in about GH¢7 billion from the collection of the 1.5% levy on mobile money and other electronic transactions, but the figure was revised downwards to about GH¢4 billion recently.