Tax payers urged to honour their obligation

The acting Head of the Koforidua Medium Tax Office (MTO), Mr Richard Ajago said tax collection has shifted from enforcement to voluntary compliance.

He explained that, this has led to the introduction of the self assessment tax regime and therefore urged tax payers to file their tax returns in time to promote voluntary tax compliance to support national development.

Mr Ajago was speaking at the second quarter public education programme to sensitise stakeholders on their tax obligation in Koforidua.

He indicated that, some clients are not complying with the self assessment regime, which he described as shared responsibility to promote trust and transparency in the tax collection system.

Mr Hayfron Edwin, Principal Revenue Officer, MTO Koforidua explained that, self assessment seeks to improve the overall compliance with the tax law and help reduce compliance burden and cost as well as improve revenue mobilisation.

He said, self assessment gives the tax payer the opportunity to compute and report on their tax liability to the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) which helps to sustain confidence in the tax system and its administration.

Mr Hayfron said, the GRA reserves the right to perform, audit and compliance checks with or without notice to ensure that, there are no infractions of the law and that the right amount of taxes have been declared and paid.

He emphasised that, landlords are supposed to pay rent taxes, indicating that, a residential premise attracts eight per cent and a non-residential building attracts 15 per cent of the gross rent.

He explained that, the new VAT law has widened the tax net to cover some business activities which hitherto operated outside the tax net.

Mr Hayfron, explain that, filling of VAT returns has to be submitted by the last working day of the following month, while return of income tax should be submitted by the end of the month of April of the following year.

He added, withholding taxes should be submitted by 15th day of the following month and self assessment forms are to be filed by 31st December of the preceding year.