The Project, which is a Public-Private Partnership between GCNet, Ministry of Communications, Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Registrar General's Department ((RGD), and National Information Technology Agency, will roll out efficient collection of revenue and equitable distribution of the tax burden, ensure greater transparency and integrity and accountability to government for the professional management of taxes.
It is also expected to provide one-stop-shop service for tax payers for the submission of returns and payments of taxes and thereby augment customer service delivery and common tax procedures that would enable taxpayers to be governed by a single set of rules.
The five-year Project is being funded by the World Bank through the collaboration agencies.
Ge-Gov is part of a national strategic plan being implemented by the GRA to ensure optimal revenue collection, maximum voluntary tax compliance, fair and transparent tax enforcement, strong professional and credible organisation, compliance with statutory non-revenue obligations and integrity and good governance.
From next month re-registration of businesses and taxpayers will commence under the phase one of the Project. 122 sites have been earmarked to cover the country, while 11 sites have been selected to be based mainly in the Greater Accra Region for the pilot phase of the Project.
The second phase expected to cover the nine other regions spans January 2- June 2012.
Mr George Blankson, Commissioner of GRA told a press conference in Accra that the Project mandates GCNet to design, finance, build, operate and transfer ownership of an e-government system with its technical partners for the RGD and the GRA.
“On this project, the GRA will be linked to the Registrar General’s Department electronically to ensure that GRA has access to their database to access details of registered businesses for easy tracking and for tax purposes.
“In connection with this, new Taxpayer Identification Numbers will be issued to registered businesses and individuals in September, 2011,” he said.
Mr Blankson said a draft amendment Value Added Tax (Domestic Tax Revenue Division) is before Parliament while the final draft of the Tax Administration Act of the erstwhile revenue agencies are expected to be completed before the end of December this year.
He said work on the Internal Revenue Act has commenced while the Terms of Reference for the Customs Law are under discussion.
The Commissioner said in order to build a credible GRA, a draft code of ethics has been developed to guide the conduct of staff in their dealings with taxpayers.
Mr Paul Quakyi, Ge-Gov Project Officer who spoke on “Ge- Gov Automation” said the venture is aimed at modernising the practices of the Ministries, Departments and Agencies to conform to the modern best practices worldwide.
He said the Project would ensure online payments, sharing of information of various organisations, online appointment and scheduling, portal and single sign on: one account access of all services.
Mr Quakyi said it would also authenticate the Identification systems of the National Identification Authority, Electoral Commission and the Driver Vehicle Licensing Authority.
Mrs Jemima Oware, Chief State Attorney at RGD said the Project would promote the corporate governance culture and best practices leading to the filing of annual tax returns among other things by entrepreneurs.
From next month all new organisations and tax payers will be required to register through the new system as a matter of course while existing customers of GRA and RGD would be expected to re-register.
GRA customers will receive a new Registration Number, Certification of Incorporation/Registration and Certificate to Commence Business if applicable.
The main reasons for re-registration are to improve quality of customer records, facilitate improved levels of services, act as basis for access to variety of online government services including online tax returns, payments, appointments and scheduling and implement a government portal.
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Quelle/Source: Ghana News Agency, 25.08.2011
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