If you’re not from Ghana, the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) now has an e-commerce and digital registration gateway for you.
Taxes on electronic commerce and internet businesses, they say, will start on April 1, 2022. This is the first step in that direction.
The GRA has set a goal of collecting GH80.3 billion by 2022, and the new system of taxing e-commerce will increase the tax net and breadth while also contributing significantly to the Gross Domestic Product.
The new tax system applies to both local and foreign online service providers, betting organizations, and a lot of websites that do business across borders, says GRA Commissioner General Reverend Dr. Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah.
Find also: GRA To Tax Netflix, Amazon, And Others To Generate More Taxes
Google, Netflix, Facebook, Amazon, and other multinational online businesses that make money in Ghana will now have to register and pay the new e-commerce tax under the new rules.
He claimed that this measure would help the GRA reach its budget and tax-to-GDP ratio targets for 2022.
To accomplish the Ghana Beyond Aid agenda, Rev. Owusu-Amoah said the GRA was focusing on making tax compliance easy through digitization and reversing the tax payment habit.
“We need to reverse the trend in terms of our revenue and the contribution of value-added tax to our tax in Ghana with the Ghana Beyond Aid Agenda.” “The goal is to include all institutions, no matter where they work, in order for them to pay the tax,” he said.
Tax collection in Ghana is weak, according to the Reverend Dr., and this has become a subject of concern for the authorities.
He went on to say that tax collection needs to keep up with current digital trends and be digitized to avoid under-invoicing and invoice non-issuance.
It is against this backdrop that we, as a country, have decided to implement e-VAT and put an end to this problem. We’ve already selected a few taxpayers who will be joining us to begin. “
Between now and the end of March, taxpayers and their software developers will be educated on the new application programming so that their systems can be synchronized.
He went on to say that GRA’s system contains a compliance mechanism that bans corporations from moving money out of Ghana if they haven’t paid their taxes in full.
According to the compliance tool, non-residents who engage in cross-border trading in the country must register, file, and pay their projected taxes.
Mr. Colin Sykes, the head of the Foreign Commonwealth Development Office’s trade and economic reform department, said that the office was willing to help the government meet its goal of raising more money.
He believes that looking at ways to tax e-commerce is a vital step toward bringing in more income.
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