2022 Budget: Mobile Money Charges To Go Up Next Year As Gov’t Introduces Tax On Electronic Transactions

The government has decided to place a levy on all electronic transactions to widen the tax net and rope in the informal sector, the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta has said.

Presenting the 2022 Budget Statement and Economic Policy in Parliament on Wednesday (17 November), Ofori-Atta said, this shall be known as the “Electronic Transaction Levy or E-Levy.”

He said, “Electronic transactions covering mobile money payments, bank transfers, merchant payments and inward remittances will be charged at an applicable rate of 1.75%, which shall be borne by the sender except for inward remittances, which will be borne by the recipient.”

“Mr Speaker, this new policy comes into effect from 1 February 2022. The government will work with all industry partners to ensure that their systems and payment platforms are configured to implement the policy.”

As of January 2021, 38.9% of the population aged 15 years and older had a mobile money account in Ghana.

The share of mobile money users increased over the previous three years but decreased slightly in 2021 from 39% in 2020.

Source: AsaaseRadio