A Tax expert at Oxfam Ghana, Dr. Alex Ampaabeng, has stated that transactions being used to evade the electronic transfer levy need to be blocked.
He noted that mobile money agents should be on the alert for cash withdrawals that look suspicious.
According to him, some persons are using cash-outs to avoid making transfers that attract the E-Levy.
The tax expert said agents must insist on seeing the identification cards of persons who seek to make Mobile money withdrawals.
Dr. Ampaabeng was speaking to the Graphic Business.
“It is a loophole and almost every tax has such weaknesses. What the government can do is to work with the agents to insist that people bring the hardcopies of their ID cards before they can be made to make withdrawals.
“That way, they can detect and fish out suspicious ‘cash-outs’ and then block them.”
Continuing, he noted that this can only be done if the mobile money agents follow through to ensure corresponding ID cards of clients are presented before withdrawal requests are granted.
“The agents rely on the commissions and the more withdrawals people make, the more commissions or revenues they make.
“Now, for them to reduce withdrawals in order to curb the avoidance means that their commissions will reduce and I do not see them cooperating because already, the transactions are reducing on the back of the levy,” he said.
Additionally, Dr. Ampabeng further called on government to ensure that funds collected from the Electronic transfer levy are transparently accounted for.
Meanwhile, the Ghana Revenue began the implementation of the E-Levy on May 1, 2022. The authority has since noted that 1million has been collected from only one charging entity in one day, signaling the effectiveness of the tax mobilization measure.
Cash-outs needs to be carefully probed