Research in Brief 124

In the past decade, over 15 countries in Africa have implemented taxes on mobile money (MM) and other digital financial services (DFS). These taxes aim to broaden the tax base, and sometimes target the difficult-to- tax informal sector. However, hastily implemented taxes can pose risks, such as hindering sectoral growth, affecting consumer behaviour, and failing to generate expected revenue. Our research, a novel contribution to the field, compares fiscal legal and tax frameworks in Ghana and Nigeria to determine the most effective approach to MM and DFS taxation.

Summary of ICTD Working Paper 202.

Authors

Hannelore Niesten

Hannelore Niesten is an ICTD consultant working as a Research Officer for the DIGITAX programme. Hannelore holds a PhD in Law from Maastricht University and Hasselt University (double degree), an LLM in Business and Finance law from George Washington University, Advanced Masters in Tax Law and Notary Law from the Catholic University of Louvain, and Masters in Globalization and Law, and European Law from Maastricht University.

Isaac Kobina Amoako

Isaac Kobina Amoako is a Chief Revenue Officer and head of the Project Management Unit under the Transformation Office of Ghana Revenue Authority. He is a member and technical lead on the E-Levy Technical Committee, a member of the E-VAT Technical Committee, and the technical lead on the E-Levy Research Committee set up under the direction of the Economic Management Team of the Government of Ghana. Isaac holds a BSc in Computer Science from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, and an MBA in Project Management from the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration.

Bala Dahiru Abdullahi

Bala Dahiru Abdullahi is a Manager in the Tax Data Management Department of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Nigeria. He holds a BSc and MSc in Economics from the Universities of Abuja and Ibadan (Nigeria), an MSc in Data Science and Analytics from the University of Nottingham, England, and a PhD in Econometrics from Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan. His research interests span revenue forecasting and tax policy analysis, financial econometrics, macroeconometrics, and tax data analytics. Dahiru has provided research and consultancy services to the African Tax Administration Forum, the African Development Bank, and the Centre for Management Development.
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