TAX RELIEF MONEY PILES UP - AS CLAIMANTS FAIL TO APPLY.

Claims for tax relief have not caught on well with Ghanaians as it should.

Over the past three years, there has been yearly budget of c300 million towards the claims.

It was only in 1993 that over half the amount was collected.

Within the period starting from 1992, a total of 81 individuals made claims.

At the same time of 11 enterprises and 124, companies collected their respective tax reliefs.

For 1992, a total of c107 million was collected, while 1993 was c189 million and 1994 was c95.2 million.

Mr Addo Akuffo, Head of thePublic Relations and Tax Education Section of the Internal Revenue Service said that the public should discard the notion that the procedure for making claims is cumbersome.

He indicated that if forms are filled correctly it should take two weeks for a claimant to have his or her relief so the public should not hesitate to make their claims.

Mr Akuffo made it clear that claims are not centralised and that any district IRS office should be able to process the claims.

A claimant needs to file his tax returns and the rest will follow.

However, some enterprises fail to make the claims because it will expose their financial standing.

With individuals, the only problem will be the employer's inability to fill their portion of the forms.

Under the tax relief system, an amount of c120,000 is payable to individuals aged 60 and above but are earning revenue.

Also any taxpayer who has a dependent aged 60 and above could also claim c30,000 per a dependent for a year.

A relief could also be claimed on social security contributions, life assurance policy and child education.

For child education, Mr Akuffo explained that it is either the father or mother who can claim relief for three children at c80,000 per child per year.