The Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications; the umbrella organization for telecommunications industry in the country, have expressed worry over the continuous recurrence of claims by the Communications Ministry of under-declared taxes.
According to the Chamber, such assertions by the ministry has serious reputational issues and are dire to the growth of the industry.
The Minister for Communications, Ursula Owusu on Friday, August 7, appeared before Parliament to account for how much revenue the country had made since contracting Kelni GVG to create the Common Platform as well as clear some controversies surrounding the contract.
While addressing the House, the minister noted that the implementation of the Common Platform had saved the country some GHS 470 million in under-declared taxes from 2015 to the first quarter of 2017.
“The introduction of the CP has uncovered that, prior to the introduction of the CP, GHS 470 million in taxes was lost from potential under declarations between 2015 to the first quarter of 2017. An estimated amount of GHS 300 million in taxes was saved between Q1 of 2017 to
date as a result of the announcement of the implementation of the CP on March 8th, 2017 and its actual implementation date,” she stated.
Reacting to the Minister’s claim, the Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications note that a similar assertion was made by the Ministry on November 19, 2019 for which a report on the alleged tax misconducts by its members (AirtelTigo, MTN and Vodafone) was requested from the Ministry for the Chamber’s perusal, but the request till date has not been met.
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Adding that, nine months after the allegation by the ministry, the issue has not come up for discussion in engagements between itself, the ministry and regulators.
The Chamber in a press release argue that its members are good corporate citizens and have showcased exemplary record of tax compliance as well as delivering on all their tax obligations.
The Chamber, after the assertion made by the minister, is seeking for an audience with Parliament through the Select Committee on Communications to engage them and adequately address the allegations by the Communications Ministry.
Read details of press release:
