The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has informed the public on why there are errors with the implementation of the Electronic Transaction Levy (E-levy).
According to the Head of Project Management at GRA, the implementation did not pan out as expected.
Some mobile money users who performed transactions found out that transactions from GH¢100 and below were impacted by the E-levy, contrary to what the Finance Minister said.
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
The Head of Project Management at GRA said the challenges were as a result of the lack of a connected platform to host the various charging entities.
Mr Isaac Kobina Amoako said Telcos, Banks, Payment Service Providers (PSPs) and Specialized deposit-taking institutions; are charging from their individual systems.
“In our engagement with the charging entities, we were going to go with a (project) where everybody was expected by May 1, to connect to a common platform and start charging using the common platform. But at the last minute, we realized that some of the charging parties came to us that they needed an extension so they can fully configure their system to connect to the common platform.”
According to Mr Kobina Amoako the directive came from the Minister of Finance.
“The Minister allowed that we shouldn’t connect to the common platform on May 1, and we should allow all the charging entities to do the charging on their own platforms.” he said.
“So currently, what is happening is that the charging is taking place on each of the charging entity’s own system and not through a common system as we envisaged. You are at the mercy of a charging entity’s system so if the system hasn’t been fully configured at their end, then we see some of these challenges,” he added.
Mr. Kobina Amoako admitted that the challenges where off-net transfers to the same person are receiving charges happened during the GRA’s simulation, therefore, was anticipated.
