Vice president, Dr. Mahmudu Bawumia is urging Ghanaians to pay their taxes and file all necessary tax returns to carryout developmental projects and to provide better services.
According to him, filling of tax returns and paying taxes is as much as a constitutional obligation as it is as necessary requirement to build a good society for Ghana.
He charged Ghanaians to honor their tax obligations to help government achieve the “Ghana Beyond Aid” agenda.
The tax return is a statutory or legal form on which a person provides details about income earned or other tax to be paid.
Delivering a keynote address at the official of launch of Tax Awareness and Good Governance Week organised by the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Friday, 6th April 2018, Dr. Mahmudu Bawumia said taxation is the main tool countries all over of the world, relay on to provide services to their people.
He therefore charged the citizenry not to take paying of taxes for granted, as filing of tax return is mandated by law.
“It is instructive to note that, revenue mobilization has not keep pace with the ever growing demands of our citizens for developmental projects and better services in education, health, water, sanitation, housing and maintenance of law and order”, Dr. Bawumia stated.
His Excellency the vice president also used the occasion to file his tax returns for January and December 2017 and also commended the Commissioner-General of GRA and the entire staff of the authority for the good work done during the entire year in revenue mobilization.
Supreme Court Judge, Justice William Atuguba, Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta senior government officials, and other dignitaries present at the launch also filed their income tax returns.
The Income Tax Act, 2015 (ACT 896) enjoins all persons registered for taxpayers purposes to file their annual tax returns, on or before the end of the 4th month after the end of their basis period.
Benefits of filing tax returns includes applying for tax reliefs, tax refund, tax exemptions and helps the taxpayer get a tax clearance certificate.
On his part, the Commissioner-General of GRA, Emmanuel Kofi-Nti said the launch of the Tax and Good Governance Week is a follow-up to the National Tax Campaign held during the last quarter of 2017.
He stated that in accordance with the Income Tax Act, 2015 (ACT 896) and the Revenue Administration Act, 2016 (ACT 915), a person shall file his returns with the Commissioner-General not later than four months after the end of the year assessments.
“It is my expectation that all income earners will their returns during this month of April”, he said.
Mr. Kofi-Nti also emphasised that, the focus is on the filing of annual tax returns.
The week long programme is under the theme “Filing Your Tax Returns, Your Civic Responsibility”.
Copyright © 1994 - 2024 GhanaWeb. All rights reserved.
