GIZ, GRA and TMA hold tax education workshop for associations in informal sector

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Tema Metropolitan Assembly (TMA) has held a tax education workshop for various associations in the informal sector.

This follows efforts by the tax regulator, GRA to educate workers in the informal sector on the benefits of paying taxes and knowing their tax obligations.

The five-day workshop which commenced on Monday, February 17 will see some 125 persons from various associations in the informal sector benefit from the education exercise.

The first beneficiaries of the workshop are the Ghana Hairdressers and Beauticians Association (GHABA).

Others are the Tailors and Dressmakers Association, Fish Importers Association, Trade and Market Associations.

Mrs Florence Asante, Assistant Commissioner for Corporate and Public Affairs at GRA in an interview with GhanaWeb disclosed that the authority is exploring the idea of using of mobile money services to collect taxes from the citizenry for national development.

According to her, the move is necessary because the authority has recognized that over the years, the informal sector has not contributed its fair share to the ‘national cake’ in terms of paying taxes.

“This year, the GRA is embarking on a transformation journey and what that means is that, we're making the things that we do to collect money easier and more convenient for our taxpayers and for instance we're looking at using mobile money for people to pay taxes,” Mrs. Asante said.

“Taxpayers don't have to come all the way to our offices to pay their taxes and we're thinking of doing a lot more education in the informal sector so that they understand our processes to know what their tax obligations are how to file tax returns and this is going to make it easier for them to pay their required taxes on time for the state to improve national development,” she explained.

Mrs Asante adds that move to educate workers in the informal sector is needed to meet all the groups and associations of the sector to explain the issues pertaining to them and for them to understand all the technicalities in the payment of taxes.

Juergen Ehrke, Component Manager for Domestic Revenue Management at GIZ, on his part lauded governments ambitious revenue target that it has set towards revenue generation for national development.

Anthony Adjei, Head of Budget Analysis at the Tema Metropolitan Assembly, advised all participants of the workshop to gain the much-needed knowledge on their tax obligations and its contribution to national development.