- "When you look at the [E-Levy] law as it is now, it does not clearly state who bears the incident of the transfer of a Momo. Is it the person who is sending the money or the one receiving the money? The law does not categorically state it and that is an issue."
The tax expert Fred Awutey is asking for a review of the Electronic Transfer Levy (E-Levy) law to avoid confusion ahead of its implementation.
The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has served notice the law takes effect on 1 May 2022.
Talking to Kwaku Nhyira-Addo on The Asaase Breakfast Show on Monday (11 April), Awutey said the law as it stands is ambiguous.
“The court over the years restricts itself to interpreting the laws as specific to the words used in its writing and this E-Levy law is ambiguous on who pays the tax.
“To the extent that the law has not clearly stated who bears the E-Levy tax cost … it makes the law ambiguous and that is a challenge,” Awutey said.
“When you look at the [E-Levy] law as it is now, it does not clearly state who bears the incident of the transfer of a Momo. Is it the person who is sending the money or the one receiving the money? The law does not categorically state it and that is an issue,” he said.
E-Levy implementation
The 1.50% levy will be charged on electronic transfers at the time of transfers.
Transactions E-Levy will cover:
- Mobile money transfers between accounts on the same electronic money issuer (EMI)
- Mobile money transfers from an account on one EMI to a recipient on another EMI
- Transfers from bank accounts to mobile money accounts
- Transfer from mobile money accounts to bank accounts
- Bank transfers on a digital platform or application which originate from a bank account belonging to an individual to another individual
Checkout full statement below:
The “poor” are not part of E-Levy
The Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has said that the “poor” have been exempted from the Electronic Transaction Levy due to the threshold of less than GHC100.
Also, he debunked claims that the Levy will kill the Mobile Money [Momo] industry.
According to him, although the same comments were made during the introduction of the Communications Service Tax, the telecom industry has thrived ever since.
Speaking on the floor of Parliament on Tuesday (29 March), the Ofoase Ayirebi Member of Parliament said, “There is a claim that has been made that it will kill the MoMo industry so don’t tax MoMo.
“This same claim was made when the Communications Service Tax was being introduced, it has never killed the industry. In fact, the industry has grown.”
He added: “Mr Speaker, finally, the poor have been taken out of it with the threshold implemented so that those who transfer less than GHC 100 a day will not pay this levy.”
Fred Dzakpata
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