Bobie-Ansah, Public Relations and Tax Education officer at the Internal Revenue Service says it is mandatory for all hawkers in Ghana to pay taxes to Government to help provide infrastructure, education and other services beneficial to all Ghanaians.
He said this in an interview on hawking in Ghana and whether hawkers pay taxes. Explaining further, he said since all income earners in Ghana needed to pay taxes according to Internal Revenue Act, 2000 (Act 592), there was the need for hawkers to also add theirs to the national kitty. However several attempts were made by the agency to get hawkers to pay but it proved futile due to the fact that hawkers were not static but moved from place to place. He added that there were also few tax officers in
In a bid to overcome this problem, the IRS introduced the Tax Stamp in February 2005 as a revenue generation method. According to him this system allows for easy identification of small-scale self-employed persons in the informal sector like people operating in kiosks, on table tops, hawkers, identifiable groups such as hair dressers, dressmakers, tailors, butchers and artisans such as masons and welders.
Under the Tax Stamp system, business operators are grouped according to business type and volume from GH¢3 to GH¢15. With respect to hawkers he noted that since hawking did not yield much profit it was put in the GH¢3-GH¢5 category.
This system entails these small and medium scales and self employed people to purchase a tax stamp which is a sticker and a receipt quarterly. This stamp is purchased with respect to the quantum or volume of income or the level of profit acquired. A hawker has to keep this stamp during his or her day to day activities since tax officers were on day to day or routine checks all the time. He noted that any hawker who did not produce his or her tax stamp was arrested and dealt with according to the law.
When asked on how hawkers acquire the stamp he said there were two ways of doing that. “First, a hawker can come to the tax office to get the stamp. This is what we term voluntary compliance. Another method is by purchasing it when the tax officers come round to inspect these tax stamps,” he explained.
He further urged all hawkers to pay their taxes regularly to avoid arrest and prosecution
He said this in an interview on hawking in Ghana and whether hawkers pay taxes. Explaining further, he said since all income earners in Ghana needed to pay taxes according to Internal Revenue Act, 2000 (Act 592), there was the need for hawkers to also add theirs to the national kitty. However several attempts were made by the agency to get hawkers to pay but it proved futile due to the fact that hawkers were not static but moved from place to place. He added that there were also few tax officers in
In a bid to overcome this problem, the IRS introduced the Tax Stamp in February 2005 as a revenue generation method. According to him this system allows for easy identification of small-scale self-employed persons in the informal sector like people operating in kiosks, on table tops, hawkers, identifiable groups such as hair dressers, dressmakers, tailors, butchers and artisans such as masons and welders.
Under the Tax Stamp system, business operators are grouped according to business type and volume from GH¢3 to GH¢15. With respect to hawkers he noted that since hawking did not yield much profit it was put in the GH¢3-GH¢5 category.
This system entails these small and medium scales and self employed people to purchase a tax stamp which is a sticker and a receipt quarterly. This stamp is purchased with respect to the quantum or volume of income or the level of profit acquired. A hawker has to keep this stamp during his or her day to day activities since tax officers were on day to day or routine checks all the time. He noted that any hawker who did not produce his or her tax stamp was arrested and dealt with according to the law.
When asked on how hawkers acquire the stamp he said there were two ways of doing that. “First, a hawker can come to the tax office to get the stamp. This is what we term voluntary compliance. Another method is by purchasing it when the tax officers come round to inspect these tax stamps,” he explained.
He further urged all hawkers to pay their taxes regularly to avoid arrest and prosecution
Comments
Post a Comment