MoMo Agents kick against 10% tax imposed on their earnings

Mobile Money agents across the country are kicking against a 10% tax being imposed on their earnings by the government.

The agents at an emergency meeting on Friday June 25, 2021, said they can no longer bear any extra financial levy on their operations.

In a communiqué following the meeting, the Mobile Money Agents Association of Ghana (MMAG) said all efforts to engage the government and stakeholders on the tax have not been successful.

The government, in a new directive, has asked telcos to deduct a 10% tax from the cash-out service of MoMo agents.

According to the association, the government’s action means that, they will now be paying a total of 20% tax on a monthly basis, which does not auger well for the sustainability of their businesses.

“The Union cannot cooperate with this directive given to the Telcos by the government to deduct 10% extra from our cashout services wallet.”

“In total, on each network, every Agent will be paying 20% tax on a monthly basis. Initially, Agents pay 5% on cash-in Service wallet, but it was secretly increased to 10% without our knowledge. We feel this is a gross disregard to procedures,” the Association said.

They said besides the many other financial obligations on them such as cost of utilities and tax, acquisition of operating permit and payment of social security for employees and the cost of labour, they are also saddled with different challenges such as armed robbery attacks and fraud which nearly collapsed their businesses to especially amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Association said its members pay about nine different taxes, and that should the new tax be imposed, they would struggle to keep up.