The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has disclosed that three hundred and twenty-eight million cedis (GH¢328m) has been realized so far from the e-levy.
According to Dr. Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah, Commissioner-General of the GRA this amount is total since the tax took effect from May.
“We continue to see increases in the revenue collected and we are confident that this will continue. There is increasingly between 10-15% improvement in collection of the E-levy on a month-on-month basis”, the Commissioner-General, Rev. Dr. Amishaddai Owusu-Amoah disclosed.
Meanwhile, the GRA will begin the piloting of an automated Auctioning platform on the Integrated Customs Management System (ICUMS)later this month. The e-auction module, which will be available on www.auction.icums.gov.gh is part of efforts to prevent revenue losses that emanate from the auctioning process.
“One of the things people complain about over the years is auctioning and I am glad to announce that we have finished the electronic auditioning platform which is online and our target is that, from the 15th of October, we will load some of the times available for auction on this system as part of the pilot phase.
“Our digitalization agenda remains on course and we are confident that both the previous ones we have done like the cashless and the ICUMS will continue to increase revenue,” the Commissioner-General said.
Ghana’s tax to GDP was estimated to be 12.2% in 2019 with a 2021 provisional estimate of 12.5%. In a bid to enhance revenue mobilization and broaden the tax base, the government introduced the Electronic Transactions Levy (E-Levy).
At least GH₵6.9 billion was expected to be raised but the figure had to be revised to about GH₵4.9 billion following the delay in the passage of the e-levy bill. Having missed the GH₵1.46 billion target for the first half of the year, the government had to revise the tax measure downwards, again, to GH₵611 million.
Source: Pulse Ghana