New tax amendments do not mean much to the average Ghanaian - Tax expert

Workers who earn below GH¢365 won't be taxed -GRA

New tax amendment act to review income tax for individuals

Government to reduce withholding tax for unprocessed gold by amendment

Tax expert, Francis Timore Boi, has stated that the new tax amendment does not mean much to Ghanaians since there is only a GH¢15 difference between the old rates and the new amendments.

According to him, although some income earners may feel the impact of the new amendment, this will not significantly affect the net income of workers.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with GhanaWeb, the tax expert said, “the increment is not much, normally if payments are made to take care of the minimum wage and in fact when you look at the amendment from the old rates to the new one the difference is not much, it’s just GH¢15. To the very poor person, GH¢15 may mean something but to an average earner the new bands do not make any significant changes to their net income”.

The Ghana Revenue Authority said the Income Tax (Amendment) (No. 2) Act 2021. (Act 1071), is “to amend the Income Tax Act, 2015 (Act 896) to review the rates of income tax for individuals; to reduce the withholding tax rate for sale of unprocessed gold by small scale miners; to increase the threshold for an individual to whom the presumptive tax under the Modified Taxation Scheme applies; to extend the Covid-19 concessions granted in 2021 for further six months in 2022 and to provide for related matters”.

According to the Ghana Revenue Authority, the 0% tax band has been increased from GH¢319 to GH¢ 365.

Also, graduated bands have also been increased. For instance, the initial GH¢100 for 5% has been increased to GH¢110 for 5%.

Per the new amendments check out the old rates and bands compared to the new one which has been passed by parliament to be used by the GRA effective January 1, 2022, as detailed in a tweet by taxlawgh.