The much talked about Communications Service Tax Bill (Talk Tax) has finally received presidential assent to become law. With the law in place, six per cent of the charge for the use of communication services will go into government coffers as tax when its implementation begins. To reduce the burden of taxation on consumers, other laws have been enacted to abolish the imposition of some taxes on telephone sets, which include mobile, cellular and satellite phones in the country. These laws include the enactment of Act 751, which abolishes import duty on the importation of the sets; Act 751, which exempts such equipment from the imposition of the Value Added Tax (VAT), and Act 753, which amends the National Health Insurance Act of 2003 (Act 650) to exempt all telephone sets from the imposition of the National Health Insurance Levy (NHIL). The four acts (751, 752, 753 and 754), which had been earlier passed by Parliament before it rose for recess on March 19, 2008, were all signed by President J.A. Kufuor on March 28, 2008. The much debated of the four acts, the Communications Service Tax Act of 2008 (Act 754), is "to provide for the imposition of a communications service tax and related matters". Section One (1) of the act stipulates that "there is imposed by this act a tax to be known as the Communications Service Tax to be levied on charges payable by consumers for the use of communications service". Under Section Four of the act, which talks about the "Collection of the tax and payment into the Consolidated Fund", it said the VAT Service was responsible for its administration and management and shall collect and account for the tax, any interest and penalty paid under the act. It further explained that the tax shall be levied on all communications service usage charged by communication service providers with Class One licences as provided in the National Communications Regulations of 2003 (L.I. 1719). "The tax shall be paid together with the communications service to communication service provided by consumers of the service," it stated. On the benefit of the tax, it stated that at least 20 per cent of the revenue generated from it shall be used to finance the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP). Under Section Six, which touches on "Submission of the tax return and time for payment of the tax", it states that unless otherwise directed by the Commissioner of the VAT Service in writing, a communication service provider shall file a tax return to account for the tax, adding that the tax return shall be in a form prescribed by the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning and shall state the amount of tax payable for the period and any related matters that may be required, among other things. "A service provider who, without justification, fails to submit to the commissioner the tax return by the due date is liable to a pecuniary penalty of GH¢2,000 and a further penalty of GH¢500 for each day that the return is not submitted," it pointed out. It also pointed out that a tax, penalty or any interest due under the act which remained unpaid after the date might be recovered by the Commissioner of the VAT Service as a debt and use all legal means to recover. Source: Daily Graphic