Government must ramp up public education on E-Levy – MoMo agents association

E-Levy implementation starts

Panic withdrawals leave MoMo agents short on cash

E-Levy revenue target revised to GH¢4.5 billion for 2022

The Mobile Money Agents Association of Ghana has called on government to intensify public education on the controversial Electronic Transfer Levy.

According to General Secretary of the Association, Evans Otumfuo believes more needs to be done in terms of providing accurate information to the public and agents about how the levy is being implemented.

Reacting to concerns of reported panic withdrawals ahead of the May 1 implementation, Evans Otumfuo said agents have not been any granted audience by government over the tax policy which has left some of them in disarray.

“It is proper that government collaborates with the relevant stakeholders to ensure that we drive home education. Can you imagine that since this whole E-Levy thing we have not seen any action from government to engage the agents for the agents to also transfer the same understanding to the consumer? This is because we deal with the consumer on a daily basis, and if we are well informed it becomes easier for government to educate Ghanaians,” he is quoted by Citi Business News

Meanwhile, the Ghana Revenue Authority has commenced a phased approached for the Electronic Transfer Levy from May 1 to June 30, 2022.

The new levy will see a deduction of 1.5 percent from selected electronic transactions and the rate will apply to transactions that are more than GH¢100 daily.

According to Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, the E-Levy would broaden the tax base and enhance the government’s drive for revenue mobilization.

The E-Levy was initially expected to fetch the government about GH¢6.9 billion in revenue but had to be revised to GH¢4.5billion for 2022 due to an impasse over its approval in Parliament since November last year.