E-Levy: Targets Revised Downwards By Finance Minister Ofori-Atta As Payments Fail Government

• Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta has been compelled by circumstances to reduce the revenue target from the E-Levy
• Revenue expectations from the unpopular tax has been revised downwards from GH¢7 billion to GH¢6.11 million
• This was contained in one of the appendices of the 2022 midyear budget presented on Monday, July 25, 2022

Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta has drastically reduced Ghana’s expected revenue from the E-Levy in 2022 from approximately GH¢7 billion to GH¢6.11 million.

In the 2022 budget, the finance minister put out a target of­ GH¢6,963,386,254 but has revised it to a little over GH¢6 million in the 2022 midyear budget review presented on Monday, July 25, 2022.

However, the Value Added Tax (VAT), another important tax for the government, has been revised slightly from GH¢14.5 billion to GH¢15.4 billion.

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Many experts had predicted before the minister presented the midyear budget review that the E-Levy, which faced a stern public resistance, had impacted existing tax handles.

Senior Fellow of IMANI Africa, Bright Simons, told 3 News that the E-levy was tampering with other revenue measures because of its impacts on sentiments.

“Some of us will be looking very closely at VAT and its performance, we will be looking very closely at Corporate Taxes and its out turn,” he said.

According to Mr Simons, once other taxes fail to do well, it would be a clear sign that the government was losing credibility as capable of taking decisions in good faith or just posturing.

“If investors get the view that they are just posturing, they don’t tend to do things fundamentally different, they will not be able to achieve their most important policy objectives right now which is to reduce the cost of our debt,” Mr Simons said.

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Tax analyst outlines 6 exemptions under E-Levy available To Ghanaians

While many are worried about the impact of the 1.5% E-Levy on their incomes, there are six ways to legally minimise the risk of paying the tax and reduce its impact.

The implementation of the much-talked-about E-Levy started on May 1, 2022.

YEN.com.gh reached out to a tax expert for some brilliant ideas on how to navigate the choppy waters of the unpopular Electronic Transactions Levy.

These ideas to minimise the risk of paying the E-Levy use exemptions spelled out under the law and transactions that it does not cover.

Source: YEN.com.gh