Tax Clearance Certificate Issuance to be Automated Soon – Vice President Bawumia – African Business

The Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has assured Ghanaians that all the difficulties, delays and frustrations related to the acquisition of a tax clearance certificate and the filing of tax returns will soon be history.

This follows the completion by the Ghana Revenue Authority of work to create online platforms to automate the filing of taxes and obtaining a tax clearance certificate.

Dr Bawumia addressed the participants at the 10th Annual International Tax Conference in Accra organized by Chartered Institute of Taxation, Ghana. She stated that the current Tax Certificate issuance process, operating in accordance the Revenue Administration Act, required some fine-tuning and that the Ghana Revenue Authority had completed the necessary works.

“For the purpose of promoting tax compliance, the Commissioner-General has maintained a system of Tax Clearance Certificates (TCC) in accordance with Sections 10 & 11 of the Revenue Administration Act. The manual process of obtaining a clearance certificate was followed by the issuance handwritten certificates. It has been plagued by delays in issuance by GRA, challenges in verifying genuine recipients’ TCCs, the use fake TCCs, and alleged malpractices by Tax Officials.

“It is from this background that I directed the leadership of the GRA to automate the process of obtaining Tax Clearance Certificates and I am glad to announce to you that this process has been completed and will go live by October,” the Vice President disclosed.

Officials at the GRA explained that one would need to log into the taxpayer portal to apply online for the TCC in accordance to Section 14 of Revenue Administration Act.

The system performs a background check to verify that there are no outstanding taxes returns or payments, and then automatically issues an Electronic Tax Clearance Certificate to all successful applicants.

“The electronic copy Tax Clearance Certificate is also sent to the requestee- third Party who has demanded for the Certificate. Unsuccessful applicants receive reasons for denial of the automatic electronic tax clearance certificate.

“From the foregoing it is evident the issue of fake TCC will be a thing of the past, delays would be eliminated, and there would be enhanced transparency through the automatic verification and electronic issuance of the TCC to the Taxpayer and the requesting institution,” the Vice President added.

Filing taxes

The GRA’s Domestic Tax Revenue Division has also introduced a self-service portal, Ghana Taxpayers’ App, available on Google and Apple Play store, as well as on www.taxpayersportal.com. The portals allow the taxpayer to view their tax position (tax balance at any time), get reminders about due dates for payment of tax liabilities, file all tax return and receive credits with tax credit if one is subject to withholding tax. This will allow employees to monitor the correctness and payment of income taxes.

“As a taxpayer, you no longer need to join long queues in tax offices to pay taxes, simply pay on the Ghana.gov payment platform or any of the commercial banks of your choice. All you require to sign up is the Ghana card number as citizens or non-citizens or TIN for entities to comply with your tax obligations online,” Dr Bawumia explained.

The Authority will also have a USSD code that allows every Ghanaian to check on their tax compliance status by dialing *899*42#.“All Ghanaians and all entities are therefore encouraged to check their tax compliance status. If they are not compliant, they can immediately file their tax returns and settle any outstanding on their mobile phone.”

Accessing Public Services

“These automations of repetitive task are aimed at reducing the discretionary use of powers and its attendant alleged corruption by public officials while promoting voluntary compliance and a friendly taxpaying environment,” he emphasized.

“I must add that given that we have now made it very easy for anyone to file and pay their taxes, from next year many public services will require the presentation of tax clearance certificates before the services are rendered. This will enhance compliance and therefore domestic revenue mobilization,” the Vice President disclosed.

Distributed by APO Group for The Presidency, Republic of Ghana