Rev Owusu Amishaddai, GRA boss
THE GHANA Revenue Authority (GRA) has indicated that salaries paid onto mobile money platforms from corporate accounts of companies will attract the 1.5% E-Levy.
Principal Revenue Officer and Head of the Project Management Unit for GRA, Isaac Kobina Amoako, said the current framework created by the law does not distinguish a corporate mobile money account and an individual mobile money account.
“For the banks, the disbursements from corporate accounts were not mentioned so it is clear that, that one is exempt. But in the MoMo, there was no distinction between the corporate MoMo account and the individual MoMo account,” he told Accra-based Joy FM yesterday.
Mr. Amoako stated that some stakeholders raised concerns over the possible double taxation issue and they had referred those issues to the Ministry of Finance to look at it.
“But, for now, the law seems to have captured everybody, including disbursements from corporate mobile accounts. There was no distinction between a corporate MoMo account and an individual MoMo account. So, that is where we’ve received some kind of feedback from the public that it will affect salaries, loan disbursements, and so many other things, which we’ve referred to the [Finance] Ministry,” he stressed.
Earlier, the Head of Compliance at the Domestic Tax Unit, Victor Yao Akogo, had reiterated that a cumulative transfer of GH¢100 per day made by the same person will not attract E-Levy.
“On a transfer between accounts owned by the same person; if I have a Fidelity account, and I transfer money to my GCB account where I am doing the transfer, E-Levy will not apply. If I transfer to my Ecobank account, my Prudential bank account and my CBG account, E-Levy will not apply.”
“We have a unique identifier, the Ghana Card, and that is what we are going to use. There are some people who have used their passport to register their account; we are saying that for you to qualify for the exemption.”
“So there is the need to let your Ghana Card be linked to all your accounts so that it will be the unique identifier of you everywhere so that you can enjoy the exemption,” he stated.
Parliament passed the government’s flagship tax legislation on electronic transactions on March 28, 2022, which is set to rope in more people into the tax bracket.
The Electronic Transfer Levy, which was first pegged at 1.75% in the 2022 Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the Government presented to the House in November last year, was passed at 1.5% .
The implementation will start on May 1, 2022.
BY Ernest Kofi Adu