The one per cent implementation of Electronic Transfer Levy (E-Levy) on all mobile transactions will commence tomorrow, Wednesday, 11 January 2024, the Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications has announced.

This follows a directive from the Commissioner General of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) for the implementation of the revised E-Levy rate of 1% by Airtel Mobile Commerce (Ghana) Limited, GCB G-Money, Mobile Money Limited, Vodafone Mobile Financial Services Limited and Zeepay Ghana Limited.

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 GHS100 threshold remains unchanged.

The Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications has assured the general public that its members are working assiduously with the GRA and other key institutions, to ensure a seamless implementation of the revised levy from Wednesday January 11, 2023.

Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta
Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta

The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta announced a reduction of the E-levy rate from 1.5% to 1% in the 2023 Budget presentation.

The NPP government introduced the e-levy to help raise taxes and increase revenue, but the introduction of the e-levy led to low patronage of electronic transactions by Ghanaians because of the cost component involved. This is what led governments to reduce the rate to 1%.

The government wanted to also remove the daily non-taxable threshold of Ghc100, as it sought to make the e-levy applicable to any amount transferred electronically.

Pulse