The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has invited the leadership of the Abossey Okai spare part dealers and other trading groups to an emergency meeting to address concerns raised in the new 20% Value Added Tax (VAT).

This follows agitation and threats of a strike from the traders.

The Commissioner General of the GRA, Anthony Kwasi Sarpong told Joy Business in a phone interview that the new rate will rather benefit the traders as compared to the previous VAT.

He is positive that the meeting will get all concerns addressed amicably.

“We have called our development partners, the traders for an engagement so we have a mutual understanding…because we believe that when we all engage, then there will be a better understanding of policies and roles to be played by each party”.

“Not also forgetting that we have set up a technical team aimed at assisting the traders on how the new tax will be calculated”, he noted.

According to the GRA, under the Flat Rate Scheme, traders paid input VAT of 21.9% on every purchase, and that was not deductible.

However, under the new regime, input VAT of 20% is fully deductible as the trader can claim it back from the GRA, resulting in lower costs.

The Commissioner General rejected the claim that this will result in high cost of doing business, saying the rate is deductible when filing at the GRA.