The implementation of the Electronic Transaction Levy (E-levy) commences today, May 1, as announced by the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA).
This means a rate of 1.5% will be imposed on all electronic transactions above GH¢100.00 starting Sunday.
Already, some Ghanaians have put the system to a test and have shared their experiences on Twitter.
According to some users, they engaged in transactions above the GH¢100 threshold, but did not experience the effect of the levy.
My #elevy experience recounted:
Two transactions on 1st May 2022 on expressPay. First was at 12:05am the amount was Ghs700. I was only deducted the platform fee of Ghs7. The second was 12:12am with amount Ghs500, also platform fee of Ghs5. These experiments suggest no #elevy ✅
— Dr. Kobby Mensah (@thePOE_T) May 1, 2022
E-levy is here
Just this morning
Tax 12gh
Mtn charge 6.75gh
Eeii Npp#elevy #MayDay #npp #Ghana pic.twitter.com/iUOaP06SjL— 10/6/22 BTS💜 (@sidechick_22) May 1, 2022
I just sent 300GH to my girlfriend but they did not charge me the #elevy fee. Are we sure the #elevy dey start today?
|MayDay|
— Akwesi Merit (@AkwesiMerit) May 1, 2022
Ayoo, happy #elevy day. We die finish pic.twitter.com/ln9ML0e3cj
— #WoPre aa wob3ti (@madibaoctopus3) May 1, 2022
I thought E-Levy was charged on transfers in excess of GHC100 but why this?? #elevy pic.twitter.com/Dj2xlimLSo
— Bekwai Mayor (@korbienah) May 1, 2022
Was transferring GHS 5.00 from my mtn momo to vodafone cash which I’m always deducted GHS 0.50. I did same transaction this morning and I was charged GH 1.25 . Isn’t it above GHS 100.00 anymore? Eiiiii @MTNGhana @VodafoneGhana .. #elevy #Sarkodie #doggy #dubai #daybreakhitz pic.twitter.com/FHG2vMJCqD
— nana ama- (@PBurnagyal) May 1, 2022
An amount of GH¢450 was used to test the system.
Service Charge
Before the inception of e-levy, the service charge for sending GH¢450 was GH¢4.50. But this time around, the sender was charged GH¢3.38.
This translates into a reduction in the rate from 1% to 0.75% as agreed by the Telecos earlier.
E-Levy
In addition to the service charge of GH¢3.38, it was realised that the sender was charged an extra amount of GH¢5.25, representing a rate of 1.50% not on the entire GH¢450 (transacted amount) but rather the value-added (GH¢350) using GH¢100 as the base line.
Total Charge
With a service charge of GH¢3.38 plus e-levy of GH¢5.25, it means, the sender was charged a gross amount of GH¢8.63 for sending an amount of GHC¢450.
What you need to know about E-levy
Electronic transactions that will not come with a 1.5% tax rate.
- A cumulative transfer of ¢100 made by the same person.
- A transfer between accounts owned by the same person.
- Transfers for the payment of taxes, fees and charges on the Ghana.gov platform
- Electronic clearing of cheques
- Specified merchant payments (that is, payments to commercial establishments registered with the GRA for income tax and VAT purposes)
- Transfers between principal, master agent, and agent’s accounts.
Transfers that will be affected include:
- Mobile money transfers done between accounts on the same Electronic Money Issuer.
- Mobile money transfer to a receiver on another Electronic Money Issuer [Interoperability transfer]
- Transfer from a bank account to [another person’s] mobile money account.
- From a mobile money account to [another person’s] bank account.
- Bank transfers on an instant paid digital platform.