The authority has also increased its collaboration with telecommunications companies (telcos) to ensure that non-resident businesses’ online services are properly monitored and accounted for, allowing for proper tax charging and collection.
The collaboration allows the GRA to determine how much Ghanaians spend on platforms such as WhatsApp, Instagram, YouTube, Netflix, Amazon, and Google, among others, in order to collect value-added tax (VAT) from non-resident businesses.
The monitoring of transactions also applies to betting and gaming companies that are not based in Ghana but provide services to Ghanaians
Mr Edward Appenteng Gyamerah, Commissioner of the GRA’s Domestic Tax Division (DTRD), told the Daily Graphic last Friday that despite the country passing the VAT Act (2013), Act 870, which allowed the authority to impose VAT on online services consumed in the country, the GRA had been unable to implement the law. Mr Gyamerah stated that the authority had now developed the necessary tools and guidelines to implement the law and collect the taxes owed to the state.
As a result, he stated that it had set April 1, 2022, as the date to begin collecting VAT from non-resident persons and institutions that provided services for use and enjoyment in Ghana.
He also stated that the GRA had created a portal for businesses to use in order to register, file, and pay their taxes to the state in accordance with Act 870. “Because the majority of betting and gaming companies are also online, this law applies to them,” he explained.
He also stated that a monitoring mechanism was in place to ensure that “what they declare to us as revenue is the true reflection of their activities in Ghana.”
“A large number of institutions have joined forces to monitor e-commerce. “We have the role that the NCA plays and the role that the BoG plays,” he explained. “Remember that you cannot make any payment outside of Ghana unless you use the BoG platform.” Telecommunications companies.
Telcos also play a role through mobile money and data services. “All of these institutions are on board to support the GRA’s compliance effort with regard to this VAT on e-commerce,” he added.
The DTRD Commissioner added that the authority hoped to collect GH2.7 billion from VAT on e-commerce and betting and gaming companies this year.
He stated that GH1 billion would come from e-commerce, while GH1.7 billion would come from betting and gaming.
