News:
October 30, 2012
Parliament on Monday passed the Internal Revenue (Tax Amnesty) Bill, 2011, granting official pardon to tax defaulters, and also serving as an avenue to expand the income tax net to boost Ghana’s revenue collection.
The Bill is anticipated to encourage liable tax payers to willingly regularize their tax position with the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), grant amnesty to certain categories of persons as set by the law, from paying penalties and interest on outstanding taxes due the State.
It specifies that persons, who duly register with the GRA or the Registrar General’s Department, submit or amend their tax returns or pays assess and outstanding tax within a certain time frame could benefit from the Amnesty.
The new law broadens the scope of the amnesty to include persons who had previously registered with the GRA but have not renewed their registration, and those who have registered with the Authority but have not submitted returns or disclosed their incomes as required for a specific period, as well as persons liable to pay tax but who have previously not registered with the GRA.
The Law also preserves the prerogative powers of the Commissioner-General of the GRA to remit tax under section 158 of Act 592 and provides interpretation of the terms used in Act.