John Kumah
THE ELECTRONIC Transfer Levy (E-Levy) goes into full effect on Sunday, May 1, 2022, government has announced.
This follows an announcement by the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) to all charging entities dated April 28, 2022, and signed by Rev. Dr. Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah, Commissioner-General, which confirmed the effective date.
Headlined “Re: Notice To Commence The Implementation Of Electronic Transfer Levy (E-Levy),” the GRA’s announcement said following its 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 May 1, 2022.”
Ignore NDC Propaganda
Dr. John Ampontuah Kumah, Deputy Minister of Finance, who is also Member of Parliament (MP) for Ejisu, commenting on the directive, called on Ghanaians to ignore the propaganda being spewed out by the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) against the implementation of the E-Levy.
His reaction follows the Minority Caucus’ efforts at challenging the passage of the E-Levy in the Supreme Court.
The NDC MPs, who staged a walkout in Parliament during the passage of the bill, have filed an injunction on the implementation, pending the final determination of the case, expected to be heard on May 4, 2022.
Member of Parliament for Ningo Prampram, Sam George, who is leading the crusade against the implementation of the E-Levy, on Thursday alleged that the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) is not fully prepared to begin the implementation of the E-Levy from Sunday, May 1, 2022.
According to him, the GRA was yet to meet the 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.
Correction
The Deputy Minister explained that already, the GRA has put in place the required infrastructure to seamlessly interface with that of the telcos for the smooth rollout of the levy on Sunday, May 1, 2022.
He said, “Contrary to some naysayers’ expectations, the GRA, Ministry of Finance, and the telcos have had fruitful deliberations over the levy’s implementation these past weeks. The deliberations among the various stakeholders have helped address all potential implementation concerns. Indeed, the extensive deliberations climaxed on Wednesday, April 27, 2022, when the final road map for implementation was agreed on.”
The MP for Ejisu further said government’s commitment to a smooth implementation of the levy has not waned, albeit the needless and often exaggerated propaganda raised by key members of the NDC.
“Government is highly optimistic that the implementation of the levy will not suffer rollout challenges, due to the thorough implementation review process. A hotline will be announced to help address the challenges users will face in the rollout of the levy. The GRA and the telcos have agreed on various implementation modalities. Therefore, it is expected that all teething glitches will be identified, recognised, dealt with accordingly, and quickly. All on-net transactions will be on-boarded by the telcos starting from May 1, while a full integration of their systems will be completed in due course,” he added.
The Deputy Minister further explained, “Government urges all well-meaning Ghanaians to ignore the unsavoury and doubtful commentaries peddled by the NDC elements on the levy’s rollout.
Many of them, at best, are hoping and praying that the novel revenue measure never sees the light of day due to the positive impact the proceeds from this revenue measure will be used for. Government remains determined to fully deploy the levy for the betterment of Ghana. Let’s build Ghana together.”
BY Daniel Bampoe