Ghana’s score of 56 on the Paying Taxes indicator in the last Doing Business Report is lower than the average 57.8 for Sub-Saharan Africa.

With the score, Ghana ranks 152 out of 190 countries on the Paying Taxes indicator which compares tax regimes and other regulatory payments regimes across the world.

Ghana ranked 122 with a score of 62.9 in 2017.

Data contained in the last report published in 2020, show also that taxes and other statutory and regulatory payments may cost up to 55 per cent of profits as against a regional average of 47.3.

For the entire report, Ghana ranked 118 on business environment in 2020 dropping from 108 in 2017.

The Doing Business Report published by the World Bank compares business regulation in countries across the world. The Paying Taxes Indicator in the report compares the taxes and mandatory contributions that a medium-size company must have paid or withheld in a given year, as well as the administrative burden of paying taxes and contributions in an economy.

The report entails also all those processes that occur after a firm complies with its regular tax obligations. These include tax refunds, tax audits and tax appeals.

“In particular, Doing Business measures the time it takes to get a value added tax (VAT) refund, deal with a simple mistake on a corporate income tax return that can potentially trigger an audit and good practices in administrative appeal processes,” the report says.

A business entity located in Ghana has to make 36 kinds of payment each year, spending a total of 226 hours to meet those obligations, the report has said.

In South Africa which ranks 54, a business has to make 7 payments spending 210 hours and may cost up to 29.2 per cent of profits.

Nigeria ranks 159 with 48 times payments each year costing businesses 38.4 per cent of profits, and spending 343 hours.

A business in Rwanda is required to pay 9 times costing it 91 hours and 33.2 per cent of profits.