Abeku Gyan-Quansah, a tax partner with Price Waterhouse and Coopers (PwC), has called on businesses in the country to rally behind the creation of the Tax Appeals Board by government.
According to Mr Gyan-Quansah, government has for sometime now had the intention of creating the Tax Appeals Board to help with issues of taxation between businesses and the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), but has however, slowed in the formation and subsequent approval of the Board.
Speaking at a webinar organized by the American Chamber of Commerce on the topic The Economy and Budget 2021: Challenges and Prospects post-Covid-19 (What Businesses should Expect), Mr Gyan-Quansah posited that the Tax Appeals Board when created will resolve tax disputes between businesses and the GRA.
Currently, businesses with tax disputes with the GRA would have to resort to the High Court to have them resolved, hence the purpose of the Board.
According to him, the Board when constituted by the Finance Ministry will be comprise 11 members headed by a chairman who is either a retired Supreme Court Judge or a High Court Judge with vast knowledge in taxation, two retired GRA officials, two members from the Ghana Bar Association (GBA), two members from the Institute of Chartered Accountants Ghana (ICAG), two members also from the Chartered Institute of Taxation and two women nominated to the Board.
“We at PwC think this would improve transparency in our tax space and so I urge businesses to take interest and support the creation of the Board,” he stated.
Speaking further at the webinar, he also advised businesses to review their plans and budgets drawn in 2020 for use this year given the introduction of new taxes and tax reliefs by government.
According to him, there are 16 tax measures in the 2021 Budget Statement, 8 of which require legislative changes, which will significantly affect the plans and budgets of businesses for this year hence the need for the review.
