GRA holds workshop on voluntary tax payment
The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has organised a one-day seminar on voluntary payment of taxes for local businesses within the Weija enclave and some parts of Kasoa in the Central Region
The seminar, which brought together about 70 business entities, including banks and schools, also provided the platform for the GRA and the business community to discuss ways of working together without any hitches.
It also gave the GRA an opportunity to sensitise the participants to how to properly file their taxes.
Speaking at the event, which was held at Bortianor in Accra, the Project Co-ordinator of the seminar, Mr Alexander Sasu Tenkorang, said the rationale behind the forum was to encourage businesses to voluntarily pay their taxes.
He said compliance with tax laws was necessary in nation building, and also prevented business people from getting into trouble with the law.
Mr Tenkorang noted that since voluntary tax paying was one of the most difficult aspects of doing business, GRA, over the past years, had undertaken various initiatives to get businesses to pay their taxes.
He said apart from organising seminars, GRA tried to use other avenues, including visiting the offices of businesses, to sensitise them to tax education.
“This type of seminar is particularly organised for those businesses which fail to attend some of the workshops we organise for them,” Mr Tenkorang added.
He urged Ghanaians to recognise tax payment as a form of contributing to national growth and development.
Businesses struggle
Speaking to the Daily Graphic, one of the participants, Mr Eric Lamptey, said although businesses recognised the significance of paying their taxes, “It becomes very difficult when your business is not doing well.”
According to him, businesses, especially those within the small and medium scale, found it difficult to break even, let alone make profit to pay their taxes.
Mr Lamptey, therefore, appealed to GRA to organise periodic workshops to educate businesses on how to sustain their operations should they be faced with challenges.