The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) in Ghana has recently announced the “Digital Transport Guidelines,” which will implement a new fee on each ride-hailing trip. As part of these guidelines, ride-hailing companies will be required to share real-time trip and customer data with the DVLA.
This means that ride-hailing firms like Uber, Bolt, Yango, inDrive, and Black Ride in Ghana will now add an extra charge on their platforms for passengers, who have already expressed concern that this new fee may be a form of double taxation, especially for those who use mobile money payments.
It is important to note that this new fee comes on the heels of the widely unpopular e-Levy introduced by the Ghanaian government in May 2022, which imposed a 1.5% tax on all electronic and mobile payments over 100 cedis. In January 2023, the tax was reduced to 1%.
Under the new guidelines, ride-hailing companies, referred to as “Digital Transport Service Operators,” will mutually determine the new digital service tax. However, the DVLA has already set a fee of GH¢1 (UGX 350) per trip, which will be subject to periodic review.
This new per-trip levy will cover annual license fees paid by drivers, digital transport licenses, fees for an information search system, and the costs of maintaining the entire DVLA database.
The guidelines went into effect on April 1, 2023, and require all private vehicles intended for commercial purposes to register with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority. Once registered, these vehicles will receive a DVLA sticker that they must display on their front windscreen.
Moreover, ride-hailing companies will now be required to share business and personal customer information with the DVLA for each trip completed.
The data that the agency wants to collect include passenger information, driver names, departure and arrival time stamps, departure and arrival GPS coordinates, trip distance, date of transaction, driver’s license number, vehicle registration number, and driver, vehicle, and passenger ratings.
This information will enable the DVLA to collect revenue from its new tax net, which is supposed to be remitted monthly by ride-hailing companies. Additionally, ride-hailing companies must verify their passengers’ identities using Ghana’s biometric digital ID, the Ghana card, according to the new rules from the agency.
