GRA Will Be In Contempt If It Implements E-Levy On 1st May – Legal Practitioner

Due to an injunction case filed by the Minority at the Supreme Court, the Government of Ghana, through the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), will not be able to implement the e-levy on May 1.

If the GRA goes ahead with the implementation, he believes it will be in contempt of court.

“In the current circumstance, the application for injunction plainly specifies that the Government of Ghana, through the Ghana Revenue Authority, its employees, agents, and assigns, should be injuncted.”

“It will sufficient to say that they specifically identified the Ghana Revenue Authority in their injunction application.” Anyone in Ghana is well aware of the injunction application, thus the GRA cannot claim ignorance. In addition, the Attorney General was served with an injunction application requesting that the Ghana government not implement the e-levy through the GRA. “The Attorney General is obligated to tell the GRA not to apply the e-levy,” he said on TV3 on Thursday, April 21.

The Minority in Parliament filed an application with the Supreme Court on Tuesday, April 19 to stop the e-levy deductions from starting.

Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta had stated that the e-levy would be implemented in May of this year.

“We had some meetings with the Controller and Accountant Generals Department (CAGD) and the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), and they said they should be able to put their system together right at the beginning of May,” he told Roland Walker of TV3 in Parliament after President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo delivered the State of the Nation Address on Wednesday March 30.

After the third reading in the House, Parliament passed the E-levy on Tuesday, March 29. During the second reading, the Minority staged a walkout. They left after Mr Iddrisu stated that the NDC MPs are unified in their opposition to the proposal.

In his remarks on the House floor during the E-levy discussion, he branded the policy proposal as punitive, adding to the “high cost of doing business in the country” if passed.

“The e-levy is the most obnoxious of obnoxious taxes,” he added, adding that “companies are suffering under your watch.” We are united in our opposition to the E-levy, and we will not vote for it.”