Private Sector Against Corruption Group (PSACG) meets with GRA

11-06-2021

Private Sector Against Corruption Group (PSACG) meets with GRA

Yesterday morning the PSACG held a closed-door meeting with the Commissioner-General of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) , Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah to discuss issues of tax policy implementation and compliance. The GRA Commissioner-General was replaced by  his Deputy Commissioner Mr  Edisi and accompanied by the Head of Compliance Mr Dominic Naab as well as Mr Victor Akogo, Special Aid to the Commissioner. After introduction of all attendees – next to the colleagues of the AmCham Ghana,  Simon Madjie and the Chair of PSACG, Mrs Adjoba Kyiamah of the UK-Ghana Chamber, Kobina Essah of the Canada-Ghana Chamber and Armelle Sae-Jeanne of the French Ghana Chamber,  representatives of all major accounting firms were present including Mr Vish Ashiagbor of PwC, Mr Emmanuel Asiedu & Gordon Dardey of KPMG and Mrs Priscilla Koranteng- Gyasi of EY. Also some companies were present and GNBCC had invited Mr Gijs Bakker of the Royal Netherlands Embassy as observer.

GRA explained on the digitalisation and the fact that per the 1st of June they are not accepting cash nor cheques ; you can now pay your taxes directly through the bank – GRA has accounts with 22 banks. In the  round table discussion a number of subjects were discussed such as the filing system of the GRA : taxpayers always have to submit all documents, data and proof because GRA does not has a proper functioning filing system with earlier submitted documents concerning for example taxpayers which are exempted of WHT or earlier submitted and executed audits etc. To improve digitalisation it was suggested that WHT certificates should be received automatically through the GRA online system as soon as the WHT is paid to GRA .  Also the inability to receive a TCC on a personal or company level with GRA was discussed where GNBCC’s GM could give an example out of his own experience. Also the situation concerning issues with Free zone companies was discussed: for example a number of tax exemptions of companies with a Free Zone status are not recognized by the GRA.

In general  when companies are audited the GRA tax officers should start with a positive approach of  how compliant you are as a company with paid taxes instead of the negative “ you owe us” approach. It was remarked by the participants that in Ghana the tax base is too small because  only 5% of the population are in the tax network (based on the amount of people who take part in SSNIT towards the population of Ghana) and a s a result there seems to be only efforts to get more taxes with those who are abiding the law and paying their tax prudently . Off course these figures are not precise but they do give a fair indication where the problem lies. On a positive note the GRA mentioned that since this year you can forward your complaints- against tax officers who in your view do not work correctly- towards the Tax Audit and Quality Assurance Department of the Ministry of Finance.

After the event a group picture was taken as well as this press release was issued.

For remarks and comments please contact Tjalling at tjalling@gnbcc.net

 

 

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