Professionals start honouring tax obligations after Akufo-Addo’s call – GRA
Many of the 60,000 professionals, including lawyers, doctors, engineers, computer scientists, financial service executives found to be evading taxes, have made efforts to rectify the situation, the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has said.
The Assistant Commissioner of GRA, Dominic Naab, who did not provide figures on the number of professionals that have paid their taxes so far, indicated that the move by the professionals comes after the president’s advice on taxes.
He said, “I must admit that there are a lot of them that are not paying. Following the president’s admonishing, most of them have started calling (to pay their taxes).”
Mr Naab explained that the GRA had already met with the parent bodies of these professionals and gathered the needed data; therefore, authorities would “begin to go after them.”
“We are calling them on the phone; we are visiting them because it is our responsibility as GRA to ensure that every person pays the tax,” the Assistant Commissioner said.
Additionally, he said, GRA was engaging the professional bodies to ensure that individuals produce their tax clearance certificates before their professional licences are renewed.
According to Mr Naab, he was hopeful that the move would be an effective measure to ensure that authorities collect the taxes due to the state.
He was speaking in an interview monitored by The Ghana Report on Joy News on Thursday, September 16.
Meanwhile, a Partner and Financial Advisory Leader at Deloitte, Yaw Appiah Lartey, has called for increased advocacy on voluntary conformity to tax laws in addition to prosecution.
He, however, raised concern over difficulties that people and SMEs face in honouring their tax obligations.
“How do people comply with the law when the cost of paying taxes is so high? Can you walk to any office and find it so easy to pay? Let’s say your property tax? Where is the office for you to go and pay the tax? Who do you talk to?” he lamented.
Therefore, he recommended that the country implement systems to make tax payments easy, just as paying water and electricity bills.
In addition, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Private Enterprises Federation (PEF), Nana Osei Bonsu, asked the government to remove the bottlenecks that hinder SMEs in paying taxes.
He also urged the government to move towards a targeted tax payment regime, where businesses are made to pay taxes in tiers based on their income levels.
READ ALSO: You’re Not Above Paying Taxes – Akufo-Addo Tells Lawyers
The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, lamented the non-conformance of lawyers and other professionals regarding the payment of taxes for national development.
Speaking at the 2021 Conference of the Ghana Bar Association in Bolgatanga, Upper East Region, on September 12, he said, “They (lawyers) appear to think that being members of the learned profession puts them above compliance with everyday civic duties like paying taxes.”
The president warned professionals in every sector of the economy and advised them to swiftly move towards regularising their tax affairs before the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) comes after them.