The Fiscal Electronic Device Bill is expected to connect all Point of Sale (PoS) devices with the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA)’s systems.

The move is to ensure that VAT issuing companies do not under declare their values and also punish tax evaders.

The Chairman of the Finance Committee of Parliament, Dr. Mark Assibey Yeboah, tells Citi Business News he is hopeful the law will increase revenue from VAT.

“Most of the persons entitled to pay VAT do not issue receipts; so it leads to suppression of sales and the tax thereof so what we intend to do is to legislate so that every person entitled to pay VAT would have a cash register so that it will ring and this would also have backend where data would be transmitted to the Ghana Revenue Authority.”

Parliament on Thursday, February 22, 2018, took the Fiscal Electronic Device Bill through the second reading on the floor of the House.

Dr. Mark Assibey Yeboah is also confident the next stage would be facilitated next week to get the law passed as soon as possible.

“In essence, there will be better tracking and sales volume will be captured and then the VAT or tax thereof will be collected. So we intend to take the Bill to the consideration stage where the nitty gritties would be ironed out,” he indicated.

The decision to connect the PoS devices is in fulfillment of government’s plans to improve domestic revenue collection.

The move also comes at a time where the government has reduced the Special Petroleum Tax to 13% which is said to cost the economy at least million cedis in tax revenue losses.

For this year, the government is targeting total tax revenue of about 51 billion cedis.

This measures against the 62 billion cedis the government is targeting to spend for this year.

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By: Pius Amihere Eduku/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana

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A statement issued this afternoon by Hannatje Ludick, the asset manager for the mall, discloses that prior to the payment the management of Accra Mall and senior officials of GRA had made considerable progress in engagements regarding the settlement of the outstanding tax liability and the mall had proceeded to initiate the due processes required for payment of the outstanding liability.

The management of Accra Mall was therefore surprised that a GRA task force arrived at the facility yesterday morning, ostensibly to enforce payment, in spite of progress made in ongoing discussions on the subject.

Accra Mall accordingly paid an amount of Ghc2,306,625.90 to GRA through a banker’s draft yesterday morning.

Following this development, the management wishes to affirm that Accra Mall Limited has always been and would remain a responsible, compliant and law-abiding corporate player on the country’s business landscape and would not, in any way, deliberately flout the payment of any tax or any other regulatory requirement.

In fact, the management of Accra Mall has taken the lead in keeping open the communication channels with the GRA, as there was uncertainty around transition rules regarding payments received in advance in the VAT Act enacted in 2014. Since then management has been engaged in constructive discussions with the Authority around the implementation of the VAT Act.

It is worthy of note that Accra Mall ranks high among the crop of businesses in Ghana that are prompt and flawless in the payment of their tax liabilities, such as the PAYE, withholding tax and VAT, and has consistently ensured payment of these up to October 2017.

The Mall assured its tenants and patrons that it will continue to provide the best environment needed for business and modern one-stop shopping and sustain Accra Mall’s status not just as Ghana’s premier mall but also the country’s most preferred destination for shopping and business.

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By: citifmonline/Ghana

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According to the Minority, the scheme was not consistent with existing laws governing Value Added Taxes and as such, its implementation was illegal and should be halted.

[contextly_sidebar id=”KDYXNdXIha3ZqY7ayJNxw7eIRKu43Zmu”]The GRA commenced the implementation of the new flat rate scheme on July 1st, 2017.

Until now the scheme had been restricted to some categories of businesses in the retail sector but this new system means it has now has been extended to cover manufacturers and importers.

Some business associations had earlier met with the Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia in a bid to get the policy scrapped, a move which proved unsuccessful

Speaking to the media on Thursday, the Minority Spokesperson on Finance, Cassiel Ato Forson said that the Scheme violates the VAT ACT 870 and could not be implemented.

“Any policy that seeks to impose a tax or that seeks to prevent the wholesalers, importers to deduct their import tax is illegal. Therefore we are urging the GRA and the Ministry of Fiance to stop perpetuating the illegality. It’s illegal and has no place in the law. It is not in sync with the spirit of Act 870, it’s Value Added Tax and you cannot in any way implement a tax that is not in sync with the reason why the VAT Act 870 was implemented.” he said.

“We wish to serve notice to GRA to immediately halt this illegality. Failure to do so will mean that we’ll go to court to compel them to stop this illegality.”

According to Ato Forson, who is also a former deputy Finance Minister, the Government, through the GRA and Minister of Finance were attempting to trick Ghanaians into thinking taxes were being scrapped, while introducing a new one “through the backdoor.”

“What they [GRA] are only seeking to do is impose a VAT through the backdoor. They are tricking Ghanaians that they are going to reduce taxes but apparently they are imposing taxes because they are preventing the importer from detaching input tax from the output tax. In the VAT Act 870, who constitutes an importer is straightforward, the law is clear on that,” he added.

“All of a sudden we have seen that the Ministry of Finance and GRA have decided to define a wholesaler to include an importer. There’s nowhere in this law that defines wholesalers to include importers. The importer is a standalone and import VAT is deducted as if it’s an import levy and it should be respected as such according to the law.”

Speaking to Citi News after meeting the Finance Committee in Parliament, Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Atta dismissed the Minority’s claims that the implementation of the policy might be contrary to the law.

“We don’t think there’s any illegality. We will look at it again but we’re sure we are operating within the law.”

He also pledged that government would work with stakeholders in the economy for a clearer understanding on how the VAT Flat Rate Scheme.

According to Mr. Ofori Atta, the rationale behind the policy is geared towards simplifying the tax system and does not impose double or cascading tax.

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By: Edwin Kwakofi/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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