The president of the Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA), says the lack of data to track business activities online has become a smart avenue to dodge tax payment.

Dr Joseph Obeng told Joy Business that the country’s revenue targets can be exceeded this year if the tax net is spread out to include all transactions in the e-commerce sector.

“E-commerce is coming strongly to overtake most of the physical trading that we do," he said.

He added, "Government has not looked on that side especially when many businesses are migrating there due to the Coronavirus Pandemic and a huge volume of goods being traded there.

According to him, "A whole lot of people are dodging tax payments through this system. Government must sit with stakeholders to find ways to register all patrons of e-commerce even if it means setting up a server to track revenues.”

Businesses are turning to online platforms for various transactions.

The Coronavirus Pandemic, though disrupting business activity, has created a huge demand for e-commerce which today accounts for 80 per cent of business activity in the SME sector.

Unfortunately, there is not any data tracking system by the GRA to tax business activities online.

Responding to these concerns Commissioner General of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Rev. Amissadai Amoah explained all technical preparations are in place to rope in the e-commerce sector.

“Today, data is one thing we are all-consuming, therefore, we expect that those in that sector should see their revenues going up. At the moment, we have still not started taxing e-commerce.

"It is one of the things that are already in our strategic plan that we are working on for this year and therefore we will come out with a plan at the right time,” he stated.

The total value of e-commerce in Africa reached US$16.5 billion in 2017 and the amount is expected to reach US$29 billion by 2022.

Although data is not immediately available for Ghana specifically, the use of digital channels for commerce has increased exponentially since March because of the COVID 19 outbreak and there are no indications when the situation will subside.

Indeed, the conventional wisdom now is that even when the pandemic does subside, digital commerce will retain a larger share of total commerce values and volumes than hitherto.

Disruptions in the local economy by Covid-19 has left the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) engaging the Ministry of Finance to set a new, lower revenue target for the year 2020.

As the internet becomes a hub for brisk online business, the GRA is pressed with the challenge of tracking down to ensure all forms of ecommerce are duly taxed.

The total value of e-commerce in Africa reached $16.5 billion in 2017 and the amount is expected to reach $29 billion by 2022.

Although data is not immediately available for Ghana specifically, the use of digital channels for commerce has increased exponentially since March because of the Covid-19 outbreak and there are no indications when the situation will subside.

Indeed, the conventional wisdom now is that even when the pandemic does subside, digital commerce will retain a larger share of total commerce values and volumes than hitherto.