President Akufo-Addo has disclosed that effective Thursday, April 1, 2020, all national identification numbers will become Tax Identification Numbers (TIN) as a means to formalise the informal sector.

Delivering the State of the Nation Address (SONA 2021) to Parliament, the President stated that formalising the informal sector is key to the growth of the country's economy, as only a small section of the population is registered with the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) with their Tax Identification Numbers (TINs) and with SSNIT for social security.

“Mr. Speaker, after four years in office, I am happy to state that there has been more progress in formalising the Ghanaian economy than there was in the previous 60 years since independence.

“For the first time, we have enrolled 15.5 million people onto the National ID card system, and we will complete the process this year. From 1st April, and this is not an April fool’s prank, all National ID numbers will become Tax Identification Numbers,” he told the House on Tuesday.

The President continued, “In so doing, the number of people registered by GRA for tax purposes will increase from the current 3 million to 15.5 million. I should recall that at the end of 2016, only 750,000 people had TIN numbers. The increase to 15.5 million in just four years is simply phenomenal.”

President Akufo-Addo also announced some other digitisation initiatives that will be implemented in the second quarter of the year.

He indicated that all National identification numbers will also become SSNIT numbers and NHIS numbers.

“This will increase the number of people on the SSNIT database from 4 million to 15.5 million, making it easier for new contributors to be enlisted on the scheme.”

“Very soon, we will link the National ID to all SIM cards, bank accounts, Births and Deaths Registry, DVLA documents, and passports,” he stated.