The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), has indicated that the implementation of the 1.5% Electronic Transfer Levy (E-levy) will be done in phases. It indicated that the decision to phase the implementation is due to its assessment of the readiness of the charging entities.
In a letter to all charging entities on Thursday, the GRA said it has observed that some of the charging entities were yet to fully integrate with the E-levy Management System hence its decision.
“Following Ghana Revenue Authority’s assessment of the general readiness of some Charging Entities to integrate with the E-levy Management System, the Commissioner-General has decided on a modified phased approach for the implementation of the Levy from 1st of May 2022.”
The implementation of the E-levy which is due from Sunday, May 1, 2022, causing some to be anxious about the additional tax they would have to be dealing with.
The Member of Parliament for Ningo Prampram, Sam George, recently said he believes the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), is not fully prepared to begin the implementation of the E-levy.
The Deputy Ranking Member on Parliament’s Communications Committee said the GRA is yet to meet the necessary requirements for the implementation of the controversial tax.
“My position has been from a technical point, where I say that the GRA is not ready to roll out the E-levy. Normally when you are deploying a project like this, there are three phases; the system development phase, the stage deployment phase and the product deployment. How do you go ahead and run a financial operation where all of these critical analyses have not been done?” the MP asked.
Mr George said it is even more worrying that the GRA has not engaged in extensive consultations with key stakeholders on the implementation.
But the GRA itself has insisted that it is ready to begin a collection of the new tax despite a legal action filed at the Supreme Court by the minority in parliament against the passage of the law granting the collection of the tax.
By: Jonas Nyabor
