Opoku Afriyie Asante, a Lead Integration Officer with the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) E-levy Thinker Committee, has attributed double charges in mobile money and banking transactions to financial institutions.
His statement comes amid public outcry over the duplicative fees imposed by banks and mobile money agents when transferring funds from personal bank accounts to personal mobile wallets.
Asante revealed that the GRA operates an e-levy platform, which requires all financial institutions to upload customer information. This platform utilizes customer details to authenticate records during transactions.
During an interview on the Citi Breakfast Show with Bernard Avle on February 1, 2024, Asante highlighted that a significant number of institutions have disregarded this directive, resulting in the imposition of double charges.
He urged banks and mobile money institutions to comply with instructions to mitigate confusion, emphasizing that the GRA continues to penalize non-compliant entities and those affected by double charges.
According to him, financial institutions neglect to update customers’ details on the GRA platform.
“When you present your details or update your details at the bank or the Electronic Money Institution (EMI) or whichever financial institutions you are assigned to, that financial institution is also mandated to upload that information to GRA, I mean the e-levy platform, so even if you walk to the bank, you present your Ghana card, you have fulfilled your obligation. The banks also have the responsibility to send the information to the e-levy platform.”
He added, “If the banks fail to update your details to the e-levy platform, when you make transactions, regardless of whether the account belongs to you because the banks have also failed to furnish GRA with your details, the platform wouldn’t recognize that it is you who is sending this amount, let say 1000 Ghana from your bank account to your mobile money wallet. So if we are unable to find out who you are, regardless of the amount you are transferring, there will be an assessment, and there will be a charge on that transfer.”
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