Proceeds from E-Levy hit GH¢328m – GRA

Management of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) says the Electronic Transactions Levy (E-Levy) has raked in GH¢328 million from the Tax Measure since its implementation. The Commissioner-General of the GRA, Rev. Dr. Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah, who made this known at a meeting with Business Editors in Accra, said GRA continues to witness increases in sums collected monthly. “We continue to see increases in the revenue collected and we are confident that this will continue. There is an increase of between 10-15% improvements in the collection of the E-levy on a month-on-month basis,” Rev. Dr. 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. I am glad to announce that we have finished the electronic auditioning platform, which is online. 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 digitalisation 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 retorted. 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 mobilisation and broaden the tax base, the government introduced the 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. Though it may be falling short of its initial targets, the GRA has raised more than half of the amount for the year. 2022 revenue performance The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) fell short of its revised revenue target for the period ending September 2022. Total tax revenue of GH¢51.58 billion was collected for the period as against a target of GH¢52.04 billion. The GRA narrowly missed its target by 0.9% raising GH¢466.61M less in revenue. The performance, however, represents a nominal growth rate of 29.0% over the same period compared to last year’s collection of 26%.