The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has ordered the charging entities to immediately stop taking the Electronic Transfer Levy (E-Levy) charges.
GRA orders follow John Mahama’s assenting to the bills following parliament officially passing the Electronic Transfer Levy Repeal Bill 2025, abolishing the contentious E-Levy that taxed electronic financial transactions in Ghana.
President John Dramani Mahama assented to bills to abolish the Electronic Transfer Levy (E-Levy), Betting Tax, Emissions Levy repeal bills and Emissions Tax.
GRA official communication notified all stakeholders that the Electronic Transfer Levy Act, 2022 (Act 1075) and the Electronic Transfer Levy (Amendment) Act, 2022 (Act 1089) had been signed into law, abolishing the 1% E-Levy, effective April 2, 2025.
The statement stated, “In accordance with our previous communication regarding implementation guidelines, this letter serves as formal authorization for you to proceed with the deployment of the ‘no charge’ configuration on your platforms”.
The GRA in their statement outlined the following:
- The GRA Electronic Transfer Levy Management and Assurance System (ELMAS) will automatically return a “no charge” on all transactions posted to it by entities from midnight!
- Charging Entities must cease applying the 1% E-Levy from midnight on all their channels!
- Charging Entities must immediately process refunds for any E-Levy amounts deducted from customers effective today 2nd April 2025.
Entities are to establish an expedited refund process to handle such cases promptly and maintain proper documentation of all refunds processed. Reports of such refunds must be submitted to GRA.
- Charging Entities are to take the necessary steps to file and pay all outstanding E-Levy charged and collected on all transactions that occurred before 2nd April 2025!
Both the e-levy and betting tax faced strong public opposition, with many in particular arguing the e-levy placed an extra burden on low-income earners and hindered digital operations.
The e-levy was introduced in 2022, initially charged 1.5 per cent and was later reduced to 1 per cent, with the betting tax being introduced in 2023 which took 10 per cent betting wins.
The repeal of the E-Levy aligns with the government’s efforts to promote financial inclusion and encourage the use of digital payment platforms without imposing additional costs on users.
Many business owners, mobile money agents, and financial analysts had previously criticized the levy, citing its impact on digital transactions and financial accessibility.
The betting tax which taxed a 10% charge on gross winnings from gambling activities, also faced criticism from investors in the gaming industry.
This move aligns with the National Democratic Congress’s (NDC) commitment to alleviating the financial burden on Ghanaians and also fulfils Mahama’s campaign pledge to abolish these taxes within his first 120 days in office if elected.
See the statement below:
