VAT to reward
informers
Sunyani, May 15, GNA - Mrs. Agnes A. Adu-Boateng, the
Brong-Ahafo Regional Director for
the Value Added Tax Service (VATS), has appealed
to the public and consumers to volunteer information
for the service to recover taxes
that otherwise would have been lost to the state in
return for a handsome reward.
She said as part of the effort to maximize revenue
mobilization, the agency had an
"Informant Award System" for persons who would
assist in exposing traders and business operators who
should have
registered with the agency but had refused to do so as well
as those who had registered and
are not issuing the VAT invoice.
Mrs. Adu-Boateng, who was addressing a one-day tax seminar
for religious bodies, said
non-issuance of VAT invoice to buyers and
consumers by traders and business operators was a
problem confronting the agency.
The seminar jointly organised by the Internal Revenue
Service (IRS) the VAT service was
under the theme "Render unto Caesar the
things that are Caesar's" aimed at educating the
participants on taxation
obligations, rights and responsibilities of religious bodies
and leaders on Ghana's taxation system.
The participants numbered about 150 and they included
Christian and Moslem religious
leaders from the region.
Mrs. Adu-Boateng said some religious groups are engaged in
some taxable activities like
operating bookshops, running of transport,
schools and hotels, canteen and hostel services,
hiring of canopies
and chairs but do not honour their tax obligations.
She said she believed that might be the result of ignorance
and appealed to such bodies "to
get all their businesses registered and
charge the tax for the government."
Mr. Kwasi Bobie Ansah, a Chief Inspector of the IRS, said
"taxable gift" meant buildings of a permanent or
temporary nature, land, shares,
bonds and other securities.
He said money including foreign currency, business and
business assets, any means of
transportation among others formed part of
taxable gift and therefore urged the participants to
consider it as a moral obligation
to declare their taxes on any gift, beside that of
their official remunerations.
GNA
