GGEA holds forum on stabilisation levy
The Ghanaian-German Economic Association (GGEA) has set aside a day to thoroughly discuss the continued relevance of the National Fiscal Stabilisation Levy and assess the challenges associated with the new Stamp Tax Policy of the government.
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While the NFSL has outlived its original sunset clause for abolition at the end of last year with enforcement extended to the end of next year, the new Stamp duty requires that payers of excise duty affix the duty stamp on their products individually, thus creating a cumbersome and laborious inconvenience to importers.
The President of the GGEA, Mr Stephen Antwi, told the Daily Graphic that the association’s next executive business forum had been scheduled for Alisa Hotels, Accra on Wednesday, May 4, 2016 because the GGEA office had been inundated with request to do a follow-up after a successful forum on issues regarding “the implementation of the New Income Tax Act, 2015 (Act 896)”.
“The GGEA office has been inundated with request to do a follow-up and also examine the general tax policy environment in the country in order to sensitise and keep our members and the general business community to be abreast of best practices,” he explained.
He said tax policies were essential to businesses because of their direct relationship to profitability and two tax policies that had generated a lot of interest in recent times had been the National Fiscal Stabilisation Levy and the Stamp Tax Policy.
He said the second part of the discourse on taxation, the GGEA was organising the forum to discuss the impact of the National Fiscal Stabilisation Levy and the Stamp Duty Tax on affected industry players.
The introduction of NFSL in 2013 and its continued existence even after the implementation of the Income Tax Act was a disincentive to businesses which are also facing increases in utility tariffs.
The association has carefully selected competent speakers for the forum and they include Dr Edward Larbi-Siaw, a Tax Policy Advisor to the Minister of Finance, who will address the topic, "The Stabilisation Levy, the Stamp Tax Policy and an overview of Government Tax Policy".
The Chief Executive Officer of MTN, Mr Ebenezer Twum Asante, will speak to the topic "Assessing the impact of the National Stabilisation Levy on Industries", with Mr Kwabena Ofosu-Appiah, President of the Ghana Institute of Freight Forwarders, will address "Implementing the Excise Tax Stamp Act 2013: Its consequences, relevance and likely impact in Ghana".
Since the isues border on taxation, Mr Kofi Frempong-Kore, Partner at KPMG in charge of Tax, will also address the issue of whether the NFSL is a good policy at the right time, considering the current shape of the Ghanaian economy.