The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has announced its intention to investigate the accounts of Ghanaians residing abroad who have not fulfilled their tax obligations
This disclosure comes in the wake of an extensive review of 70,000 accounts belonging to Ghanaians in 40 different countries. Commissioner General of the GRA, Rev. Dr. Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah, revealed this development during an interview on PM EXPRESS BUSINESS EDITION with host George Wiafe. The Commissioner General highlighted that this initiative stems from two months of diligent work by the GRA.
For the 40 countries that we have completed work, the value of money in these accounts are pegged at $2.8 billion,
However, the Ghana Revenue Authority has been able to raise a tax liability of ¢1.6 billion. This is an assessment, but doesn’t mean that we have already collected the taxes on these accounts, he said.
Rev. Dr. Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah further stated that the GRA anticipates receiving another set of data in the first week of January 2024, which could potentially enhance the expected financial inflows. The impetus for this action lies in the information obtained through the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Agreement on the automatic exchange of information among member countries and information exchange upon request.
The Commissioner-General emphasized that 150 countries, including Ghana, have subscribed to this agreement, enabling the sharing of information among member nations. Additionally, the GRA plans to introduce a Special Voluntary Disclosure Program (SVDP) specifically catering to foreign nationals and businesses in Ghana. This program allows these entities to voluntarily disclose any previously unreported or underreported information related to their financial activities outside Ghana for taxation purposes.
Ghana is one of the 5th countries in Africa in which in 2022 managed to satisfy all the conditions to be part of the OEDC agreement on sharing data for tax purposes on residents in their countries, This means that Ghana can go to UK and ask for information on Ghanaians resident in that country and the UK can also request that GRA shares information on their residents in Ghana, he further remarked.
Rev. Dr. Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah clarified that the Voluntary Disclosure Programme encourages participants to disclose errors or omissions voluntarily and may make them eligible for reduced penalties. He assured that all information provided under this program would be treated with utmost confidentiality, with stringent protocols in place to safeguard the security and privacy of the disclosed data.
