Chamber of Bulk Oil Distributors clashes with NPA over tax evasion saga

The Ghana Chamber of Bulk Oil Distributors (CBOD) has rejected claims by the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) that two of its members are part of Bulk Distribution Companies which engaged in tax evasion leading to the state losing petroleum revenues.

According to the chamber, although it acknowledges and support interventions by the NPA and government agencies to address the menace of petroleum tax evasion that continue to bedeviling the industry, Misyl Energy Co. Ltd and Globex Energy Co. Ltd are not tax evasion culprits as NPA want the general public to believe.

NPA in a press statement issued on Tuesday, July 24, 2018, indicated that the authority has suspended Misyl Energy Co Ltd, Globex Energy Co Ltd, Agapet, Excel Oil, Union Oil Ghana Limited, Petro Afrique Co. Ltd, Unique Company Ltd and Life Petroleum for a period of between one and three months for their involvement in activities that resulted in loss of tax revenue to the government.

However, CBOD in a counter press statement disagreed with the position of the NPA stating that the information is "inaccurate and unintendedly misleading."

"The BDCs mentioned in the NPA release have not been sanctioned for tax evasion but rather for under declaring their fuel sales volumes to the NPA. An action which is considered a breach of the NPA Act, 2005, (ACT691) as well as the terms and conditions governing their licenses.

The chamber explained that BDCs do not collect petroleum taxes or pay petroleum taxes in the petroleum tax administration process stressing that "this function is the sole preserve of Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs).

"The taxes are to be paid by OMCs after reconciliation with the GRA subject to agreed payment terms," the chamber stated.