E-Levy: Gov’t reviewing exemptions to improve revenue collections – Ken Ofori-Atta
Government is currently working to review some of the exemptions granted under the e-levy to deal with challenges with revenue collections from the levy.
This is according to the Minister for Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta.
Making the disclosure in an interview on JoyNews’ PM Express Business Edition on July 28, the Minister noted that some of the mobilization challenges of the e-levy can be linked to how the exemptions have been implemented over the past two months.
There have been calls for the Minister of Finance to review the e-levy rate downwards which is currently pegged at 1.5 percent, to help minimise the cost of transactions on the platform.
In response to the calls, Mr Ofori-Atta noted that the focus now is to review some of the exemptions under the e-levy, which the Minister of Finance believes may help deal with the challenge.
“We have just been able to raise just 10 percent of the targeted amount for each month and that is not good, therefore we are going to investigate this development as part of the broader review of the tax going forward,” he stated.
The government in May 1, 2022 , started charging 1.5 percent on electronic transactions in the country. This is coming after it struggled to secure Parliament’s approval for the tax.
However looking at the challenges in mobilizing the tax, the Finance Ministry was forced to revise its end-of-year target again.
According to him, the tax was introduced to deal with challenges with revenue mobilization and finance other initiatives in Ghana’s budget for last 2021, adding that government has now revised its end-of-year targets for the e-levy from GHS 6.5 billion to GHS 611 million.
Speaking further in the interview, the Finance Minister also disclosed that he is optimistic of hitting the end-of-year revenue target despite the current challenges facing the economy.
Based on the Mid-year review of estimates, government is now hoping to receive, GHS 96 billion down from the GHS 100 billion earlier projected.
