The Ghana Revenue Authority collected about ¢440 million from e-commerce businesses in the country since the introduction of taxes on their services in the latter part of 2022.

According to the Commissioner General of the GRA, Rev. Dr. Ammisshadai Owusu Amoah, about 110 firms have registered on the portal and paying their taxes.

He made the revelation to Joy Business after addressing the 11th Annual International Tax Conference in Accra.

This year’s tax conference theme “Taxation and economic development; a review of Ghana’s tax policies”was chosen to reflect the current state of the country’s tax collection which has been very low as compared to other countries.

According to the Commissioner General, the tax ratio is experiencing some astronomical growth as many businesses have been registered in the last few months.

 “We have established an online portal which many online businesses have registered and I’m sure some of you have come across getting VAT whenever you do a Google transaction. And I must mention that in the last six months, we have collected about ¢440 million from some of these e-commerce platforms”.

“Now these platforms work through payment providers in Ghana which are also required to register with the Central Bank and given some additional requirements that must be met before being able to carry out their businesses” he noted.

Speaking on behalf of the president of Ghana, Senior Presidential Advisor, Yaw Osarfo Marfo appealed to the Institute of Taxation Ghana to partner with the Ghana Education Service to formulate policies on tax education.

“Let us end this conference with some recommendations and I want to appeal to the Institute of Taxation Ghana to forge a relationship with the Ministry of Education to come up with some teachings on taxation, from the basic level where everyone will feel the patriotism to pay taxes without being asked to do so” he requested.

President of the Institute, George Ohene Kwatia urged members to enhance their understanding of the country’s tax laws and encourage voluntary payments.