Businesses and Taxpayer Re-registration to commence in September

Accra, Aug. 23, GNA - The Registrar-General's Department (RGD) will embark on a new registration of all businesses and tax payers in September this year under the Government's eRegistration (GeReg) system.

The registration, which is being done=A0in collaboration with the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) and Ghana Community Network Services Ltd (GCNet) and its technical partners, is part of Ghana e-Government GeGOV project that aims to improve quality of customer records and facilitate improved service delivery.

The exercise a Public Private Partnership (PPP) between Government and GCNet also seeks to provide access to a variety of online Government services i.e. filing of returns, payments, appointment, scheduling and GeGov portal) and to reduce tax compliance costs.

A statement from GCNet made available to the Ghana News Agency said the new systems were being deployed for both Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) and the Registrar-General's Department (RGD).

It said the first phase of the project, which begins in September this year, would involve the registration=A0of all Taxpayer and Tax Type Registration by the Ghana Revenue Authority and business registration by the Registrar General Department.

The statement explained that from September 2011 all new organisations/tax payers would be required to register through the new systems.

Entities required to register are individual taxpayers, companies (limited by shares or guarantee), unlimited liability companies, public limited liability companies, external companies, subsidiaries, partnerships, MDAs (Ministry, Department and Agencies), MMDAs (Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies),=A0co-operatives; foreign missions; trusts and public institutions.

It said existing customers of GRA and RGD were required to re-register= .. "GRA customers will receive new Tax Identification Numbers (TIN) and TIN Certificates and RGD customers will receive new Registration Numbers, Certificate of Incorporation/Registration and Certificates to Commence Business if applicable," the GCnet said in the statement. It said the focus on re-registration will be concentrated in Greater Accra and tax payers in the Region would be required to initiate re-registration for TIN at any Domestic Tax Revenue Division (DTRD) office of the GRA.

All companies and businesses currently registered in Accra by RGD are expected to re-register at the RGD Head Office for other business registration documents.

"In order to register a company,=A0business, partnership or subsidia= ry at RGD, a number of key individuals, Company Directors, Subscribers, Sole Proprietors, Partners, Shareholders, Company Secretaries and Local Managers must first register for a TIN," the statement said. Additionally all companies, businesses and partnerships must commence their re-registration through the Registrar General's Department.=A0In order to minimise bottlenecks, a GRA Help Desk will be located in Registrar-General's Department.

It said all employees of companies that would re-register must also be re-registered in order to enable Pay As You Earn=A0to be processed from January 2012 and asked companies to ensure that this was done.

The second phase of the programme scheduled to take place from January to June 2012 will cover other Regions, Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs). The statement said the deadline for re-registration in Greater Accra would end on 31st December 2011 and that for the other regions on 31st March 2012.

It said after the deadline any company or business not on the GeReg system would be cancelled from the Register and only those who had filed their annual returns or renewed their businesses will be accessible by investors.