The Deputy Ranking Member on Parliament’s Communications Committee, Sam Nartey George has raised concern about the preparedness of government ahead of the implementation of the Electronic Transfer Levy (E-levy).
According to him, the system acquired to facilitate the implementation of the tax policy lacks the ability to identify exempted transfers.
He noted that the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has admitted that all transactions done when the system is in place, will attract a 1.5% levy since crucial analysis that authorise it to operate, has not been carried out yet.
“Imagine what is going to happen to mobile money agents on the street when customers are charged the rate government has clearly stated that they are exempted. Won’t people attack them for fraud? But this is simply because the GRA and the Finance Ministry have failed to do their work properly,” he stated.
He continued, “everybody is telling them that their systems are not ready, you haven’t done your user acceptability test, compatibility test, stress analysis test, so slow down, but they [government] don’t want to listen to sound advice.
Speaking on Joy FM’s Midday News, on Thursday, the Ningo-Prampram legislator revealed that despite warnings from various stakeholders, government is unconcerned about the issue.
“They are running their thing without consulting Parliament or the Communications Committee. But I know that technical people in the industry who are supposed to be part of the implementation are raising issues and they are not getting the responses that they want,” he said.
Following the passage of the controversial E-Levy Bill, GRA said it is well prepared to roll it out on Sunday, May 1, 2022.
