Twenty (20) out of twenty-four (24) banks licensed by the Central Bank in 2019 paid a total of GH¢1.6 billion in corporate taxes. They included the 5 per cent National Fiscal Stabilization Levy to the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA); the agency mandated by law to collect and account for tax revenues on behalf of government.
The Ghs1.6 billion represents a growth of 24 per cent compared to 2018’s direct tax of Ghs 1.3 billion paid. This is contained in the audited financial reports of the banks.
The other four banks namely First Atlantic Bank Limited, GHL Bank Limited, National Investment Bank Limited, OmniBSIC Bank Ghana Limited, had not published their 2019 audited reports and were therefore excluded from the analysis.
In 2019, the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) collected total tax revenue of Ghs 43.9 billion as compared to Ghs 37.7 billion collected in 2018, representing an increase of 16.6 per cent.
Domestic tax, which includes taxes such as corporate tax and national stabilization levy, which were the taxes these 20 banks paid, contributed Ghs 24.5 billion and Ghs 31.9 billion in 2018 and 2019 respectively, also representing a growth of 30.4 per cent.
The Ghs 1.6 billion paid in 2019 by the 20 banks represent a 3.7 per cent of the total tax revenue collected in 2019 by the GRA and a 4.3 per cent of the total domestic tax revenue collected, while the Ghs 1.3 billion paid in 2018 by the same 20 banks represented 4.1 and 5.3 per cent of the total tax revenue, and the total domestic tax revenue respectively.
The 24 per cent increase in taxes paid by the20 banks in 2019 was as a result of the over 40 per cent increment in their profit.
Five out of the over 20 banks in both 2018 and 2019 contributed 56 per cent of the total Ghs 1.3 billion and Ghs 1.6 billion tax paid to GRA. In 2018, Standard Chartered bank, Absa bank, Ecobank, Stanbic bank and GCB bank occupied the top five spot while in 2019, Ecobank, Absa bank, GCB bank, Zenith bank and Standard Chartered bank made the top five.
