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Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications, Dr. Kenneth Ashigbey, has indicated that some challenges have been seen with the E-Levy law which they intend to take up.

According to him, some discriminatory elements in the law need to be addressed, adding that one of the elements of a good tax is that it should not be discriminatory.

He explained that for instance, if a salary is paid from a bank account, it won’t attract E-levy but if you are paid with mobile money, then it will attract the E-Levy, this, he described as discriminatory.

“Some of the challenges we have seen with the law, as has been passed, which we hope to take up, are a few discriminatory elements within what’s happening. For example, if your salary is paid from a bank account, it won’t attract the E-Levy, but if you are paid with mobile money, then it will attract the E-Levy. That definitely is not equitable and is discriminatory.

“We hope that going forward, such issues will be addressed. We know that one of the elements of a good tax is that it should not be discriminatory, especially due to the channels that one uses. All of these are things we will be working on with the government to ensure that the unintended consequences do not come and derail the government’s digitalization agenda that it’s put up,” citinewroom.com quoted.

Meanwhile, The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has announced May 1st, 2022 as the implementation date for the Electronic Transaction Levy (E-Levy).

In a notice published in the newspapers, the GRA said the decision was influenced by the passage of the E-Levy Bill by Parliament.

The E-Levy will impose 1.50% on all electronic transfers.

The levy will apply to mobile money transfers done between accounts on the same electronic money issuer and mobile money transfers from an account on one electronic money issuer to a recipient on another electronic money issuer.

Others are; transfers from bank accounts to mobile money accounts and transfers from mobile money accounts to bank accounts

However, bank transfers on an instant pay digital platform or application originating from a bank account to an individual subject to a daily threshold will be determined by the Minister of Finance.

The E-Levy was introduced by the government in the 2022 Budget for basic transactions related to digital payments and electronic platform transactions.

The rate would apply to electronic transactions that are more than ¢100 daily.

This is different from the percentage telecommunication companies charge on mobile money transactions