The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, has reiterated measures to raise more revenues domestically in his address on the government’s plans to stabilise the economy.
Among these measures is the Ghana Revenue Authority’s plans to begin taxing electronic commerce and online businesses beginning April 1, 2022.
This is in line with the GHs 80.3 billion tax revenue target set by the government for the year 2022, and also the target to attain a tax to GDP ratio of up to 16.5 percent.
This will rope in companies like Netflix, Facebook Google, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, Amazon, and WhatsApp, as well as betting and gaming companies that earn revenue from the country.
The GRA hopes to make GHS 2.7 billion from the VAT on E-commerce in the next eight months.
Out of the amount, the GRA expects GHs1.7 billion from the betting and gaming firms.
Indications are the GRA has a special-purpose software that has been designed to monitor these businesses and tax them accordingly.
In addition, the Finance Minister said the government will:
- Begin the implementation and collection of the revised Property Rate by end of April 2022;
- Roll out the simplified tax filing mobile application for all eligible taxpayers by July 2022;
- Impress upon Parliament to fast track the passage of the E-Levy Bill, Tax Exemptions Bill, and Fees and Charges Bill;
- Prioritise the Revenue Assurance, Compliance, and Enforcement (RACE) Programme to plug revenue leakages, especially at the ports and the infamous fuel bunkering and small scale mining exporters cabal;
- Partner with the private sector to introduce digital systems to monitor quarrying, sand winning, and salt winning to get more revenues from our natural resources; and
- Immediately enforce the “No Duty – No Exit” policy at the MPS Terminal at the Tema Port to improve revenue collection.
