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IMF Gives Green Light to COVID-19 Levy Removal in Latest Tax Reforms

 


The government's move to remove the COVID-19 levy from the country’s tax laws has received a massive endorsement from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), following engagement with the government.

This gives the government the goodwill to proceed with the move, which is likely to feature in the mid-year budget review by the Finance Minister, Dr. Casel Ato Forson, on Thursday, July 24, 2025.

According to the Ghana Revenue Authority, several engagements on the new tax reform have progressed steadily as the local business community agrees with the IMF on some of the initiatives.

Speaking to Joy Business, Commissioner of Domestic Tax Revenue Division at the Ghana Revenue Authority, Edward Apenteng Gyamera, disclosed that stakeholders agreed on the removal of the COVID-19 levy as well as other tax handles hampering business growth.

The Commissioner was speaking at one of the stakeholder engagements on the proposed tax reforms in Accra, where many of the business associations expressed confidence that the new reform will ease the tax burden on businesses whilst supporting domestic revenue mobilization.

I think from the engagements with stakeholders and the IMF, issues that the Minister even indicated in the budget, for instance, the removal of the COVID levy, is something that has been agreed. I think so far with our interaction with the stakeholders, everybody is of the view that this levy should be taken off when the reform is completed.

'Then the removal of the cascading effect of the levies, treating the levies as part of the VAT mechanism where businesses can claim input and deductions, has been generally accepted by all”, he added.

The Covid-19 levy was introduced by the previous government to raise funds to support operations of some COVID-19-related activities as the government continues to revive the economy.

The levy was passed under the COVID-19 Health Recovery Levy Act, 2021, and assented to by then President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, to impose a special levy to be known as COVID-19 Health Recovery Levy on the supply of goods and services and imports to raise revenue to support COVID-19 expenditures and provide for related matters.

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