GRA to introduce tax self-assessment
With effect from January 1, 2015, taxpayers throughout the country will pay taxes to the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) based on their own calculations.
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The GRA said the introduction of the self-assessment regime, where taxpayers were responsible for calculating and reporting their tax obligation to the authority, would be made easy with the categorisation of taxpayers.
As a result, all taxpayers were being assigned to taxpayers’ offices across the country for effective self-assessment purposes.
Under the regime, companies were required to furnish the GRA with their estimated chargeable income and tax payable for the year of assessment. This will be a departure from the current system where tax administrators have to visit the offices for assesment.
The Commissioner-General of the GRA, Mr George Blankson, made this known at the 2013 Awards ceremony of GRA in Accra.
The awards ceremony, on the theme: “Recognising Excellence in Revenue Mobilisation for the Nation Building” was to appreciate and honour hard-working staff of GRA for their efforts in revenue mobilisation.
He said it was, therefore, important for taxpayers to keep accurate records and file the correct returns for the payment of the appropriate taxes.
“I appeal to taxpayers to see record keeping as very important so that disputes will be minimised, ”he said.
New VAT
Mr Blankson stressed the need for all taxpayers and income earners not captured in the books of GRA to register for Taxpayer Identification Numbers (TIN).
Following the introduction of the new VAT ACT, 2013 (Act 870), he explained that all VAT registered taxpayers must charge and account for Value Added Tax (VAT) and the National Health Insurance Levy (NHIL) at the rates of 15 per cent and 2.5 per cent respectively of the taxable value of their supplies.
Government’s Commitment
The Tax Policy Advisor at the Ministry of Finance, Dr Edward Larbi Siaw, who represented the Minister of Finance, said the government was committed to sustaining the economic gains by streamlining its fiscal policy.
“One of such measures is the consolidation and strengthening of revenue mobilisation strategies. The implementation of these new measures can only be effective if the GRA adopts effective strategies that will bring the staff and taxpayers on board,” he stressed.
He urged the GRA to engage taxpayers by intensifying stakeholder engagement programmes, build consensus to enhance revenue performance and boost revenue collection.
“It is said that innovation is the bedrock of economic prosperity. Without new ways of thinking and new ways of doing things, we will remain stagnant as a country,” Dr Larbi Siaw said, and, therefore, advised them to adopt strategies such as setting up of special task forces that would monitor implementation and also enforce compliance.
He commended the management of GRA for instituting the awards ceremony and suggested that the awards be targeted at the young workforce to encourage them to come up with new ways of mobilising revenue effectively.