Reduced 1% E-levy rate approved by parliament

The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta announced a reduction of the E-levy rate from 1.5% to 1% in the 2023 Budget presentation.

The government wanted to also remove the daily non-taxable threshold of Ghc100, as it sought to make the e-levy applicable to any amount transferred electronically.

But the National Democratic Congress (NDC) minority in the House rejected the removal of the GHc100 threshold.

”We in the Minority had indicated strongly that we do not believe that the GHc100 threshold must be removed because of a number of reasons.

”They have listened and I presenting the e-levy bill clearly they have decided to remove what they had intended to exclude,” Ranking Member on the Finance Committee, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson said on the floor of the House.

The NPP government introduced the e-levy to help raise taxes and increase revenue, but the introduction of the e-levy led to low patronage of electronic transactions by Ghanaians because of the cost component involved. This is what led governments to reduce the rate to 1%.

Since the introduction of the e-levy, Mobile money transactions have reduced drastically.