Teachers' tax relief held-up

Thousands of teachers across the country have not been enjoying the tax relief announced by the government in the 2002 budget to cushion the plight of workers.

This is because for the past two years defective computer systems in the Controller and Accountant-General?s Department (CAGD) have delayed the computation of the tax relief and allowances.

This was confirmed by Mr. Jangay Benjamin Doku, Head of the Payroll Process Division of CAGD, in an exclusive interview with the paper at his office in Accra yesterday.

Mr. Doku said, because of the problem with the systems, which often breakdown the data on many completed Internal Revenue Service (IRS) tax relief forms, which have been submitted to the CAGD for processing, cannot be fed into the computers.

A number of letters received by GHANAIAN TIMES from teachers have complained bitterly about the failure of CAGD to process their tax relief claims, which makes it impossible for them to enjoy the benefit of the governments laudable decision.