The Ghana Revenue Authority has declared that the E-levy will be operationalized in a modified-phased method beginning May 1.
This is based on the findings of a GRA assessment of the general preparedness of selected charging entities to integrate with the E-Levy management system.
The Authority’s intention to completely deploy the E-levy by May 1 has hit a roadblock as a result of the new development.
Despite the Authority’s claims to the contrary, Ningo-Prampram MP Sam George Nartey claimed earlier this week that the Authority was not ready to apply the Electronic Transaction Levy (E-levy).
Processes that will assure the efficient implementation of the contentious tax, he claims, have yet to be completed. MIGHT BE INTERESTED: Full Video: Akufo-Addo and a BBC journalist debate Ghana’s economy.
The Application Programming Interface (API) and security architecture have not yet been made accessible to telecom providers, according to the Ningo-Prampram MP (Telcos).
“I can speak on authority that as at close of day as late as 11 pm last night (Wednesday), when the Commissioner-General for the GRA says all the APIs have been given to all Electronic Money Issuers (EMI) is incorrect. At least two APIs are still outstanding,” he said.
“Critical amongst the two is the reversal API. At the last technical meeting, the GRA admitted that because all the robustness tests have not been done for the system, there’s a possibility of downtimes when you place a call to the API to do all the checks before a tax is applied or not applied, and it’s possible that you will not get the checks done in real-time.
He explained that GRA has decided that when such a situation arises, “go ahead and apply the tax, even though that transaction is exempt, and then subsequently when the system comes back online, we will do a reconciliation and then do the reversal of the 1.5 that was charged.”
He stated that this is likely to create problems, including the likelihood of sparking confusion at mobile money vending points.
“The communication has gone out there that these categories of people are exempt [and] with instances like this, Momo agents will be attacked because consumers will accuse them of trying to steal their 1.5 of the money sent. So you’re exposing the momo agent to possible agents because of a lack of proper communication, “he said.
He further remarked that this suggests that the implementers are not prepared to reverse their decisions in such situations.
“You have not given any timeline for this reconciliation. So no one knows when the reversal will be done. And most importantly of all, the APIs that will allow the EMIs and the PSPs to do the reversal have not been given to them. This indicates that the government is not ready to do any reversal for wrong transactions, “he said.
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SOURCE: myjoyonline
