The Head of Compliance, Domestic Tax Revenue Unit at the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Victor Yao Akogo says, although the tax policy is to broaden the tax net, not all electronic transactions will come with a 1.5% tax rate.
According to him, the Electronic Transaction Tax, popularly referred to as E-Levy which is expected to come into operation on the 1st of May 2022, will not affect the following transfers;
- A cumulative transfer of ¢100 made by the same person.
- A transfer between accounts owned by the same person.
- Transfers for the payment of taxes, fees, and charges on the Ghana.gov platform
- Electronic clearing of cheques
- Specified merchant payments (that is, payments to commercial establishments registered with the GRA for income tax and VAT purposes)
- Transfers between principal, master agent, and agent’s accounts.
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For the transfers that will be affected; a Principal Revenue Officer and Head of the Project Management Unit of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Isaac Kobina Amoako mentioned the following;
- Mobile money transfers that are done between accounts on the same Electronic Money Issuer.
- Mobile money transfer to a receiver on another Electronic Money Issuer [Interoperability transfer]
- Transfer from a bank account to [another person’s] mobile money account.
- From a mobile money account to [another person’s] bank account.
- Bank transfers on an instant paid digital platform.
The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) management says it will establish helplines to address wrongful charges of customers.
Given that the tax policy is the first of its kind in the country, a Principal Revenue Officer and Head of the Project Management Unit of the Authority, Isaac Kobina Amoako, said it might come with some challenges.
Thus, the helplines will give room for affected citizens to lodge their complaints for the Authority to address them.
“Once we go live, we will have helplines to receive complaints about wrongful charges so we’ve made provisions.
“When you are wrongfully charged it should be refunded to you,” he said.
Speaking on Sunday, Mr Amoako, however, noted that GRA is adequately prepared to ensure the smooth implementation of the new tax.
“We have a system ready that we’ve asked all the charging entities to connect to. So the system is ready and we are testing towards May 1, so by then we should be ready to go,” he stated.
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