GRA believes the new portal will ensure cross-border businesses register, file, and pay the applicable taxes just like resident businesses
The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has launched a non-resident E-commerce and Digital Service Registration Portal, which it says will help it collect about GH¢1.7 billion ($0.24 billion) in revenue from online businesses.
The Authority is confident that taxing of businesses in the online space including, e-betting, Tonaton, Netflix, Facebook, Jumia, Alibaba, Amazon, among others, will improve the prospects of mobilising the GH¢80.3 billion ($11.24 billion) tax target it has set for this year.
Speaking at the launch of the new portal in Accra, Commissioner-General of GRA, Rev. Dr. Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah, this will help the Authority meet its revenue target of GH¢80.3billion ($11.24 billion).
Taxpayers and their software developers will be engaged and also be provided with the application programming interface (API) between now and the end of the month to ensure they are able to link their system with ours. Effective 1st April 2022, we will ensure that the portal is launched and we should be able to start applying the VAT from 1st April 2022. And this will cover all institutions no matter where they are based, and is expected to generate online revenue for Ghana, Dr. Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah said.
GRA believes the new portal will ensure cross-border businesses register, file, and pay the applicable taxes just like resident businesses.
In our system, we have built a compliance tool that will ensure that whether it is Google, Amazon, or Netflix, you would have to comply. Otherwise, your monies will not move from Ghana to your base. To realize the full potential, especially from the non-residential to the digital economy, the portal has been developed to ensure that the non-resident persons engaged in cross-border business will be able to register, file, and pay the applicable taxes just like their local counterparts, Dr. Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah added.