As soon as the 2022 budget is approved by parliament, all electronic financial transactions in Ghana will cost extra Electronic Transaction Levy or in short ‘E-Levy’, as a strategy by the government to mobilize revenue. Apexnewsgh.com reports
Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta revealed this on Wednesday, 17 November 2022 when he presented the 2022 budget to parliament.
According to him, “It is becoming clear there exists an enormous potential to increase tax revenues by bringing into the tax bracket, transactions that could be best defined as being undertaken in the informal economy.”
He further said, the government is charging an applicable rate of 1.75% on all electronic transactions covering mobile money payments, bank transfers, merchant payments and inward remittances, which shall be borne by the sender except inward remittances, which will be borne by the recipient.
“Mr. Speaker, to safeguard efforts being made to enhance financial inclusion and protect the vulnerable, all transactions that add up to GHS100 or less per day, which is approximately GHS3,000 per month, will be exempt from this levy,” he stated.
He stated that the E-Levy proceeds will be used to support entrepreneurship, youth employment, cyber security, and digital and road infrastructure, among others.
“Mr. Speaker, this new policy also comes into effect once appropriation is passed from 1st January 2022. The government will work with all industry partners to ensure that their systems and payment platforms are configured to implement the policy,” he stated.
