Businesses in Ghana should be ready to pay more taxes to the government for the rest of 2018, at least two more taxes are set for implementation beginning next month; March.
The taxes to be rolled out are the excise tax stamp and the Harmonised ECOWAS Common External Tariff (CET).
The excise tax stamp will affect businesses that are engaged in the importation, manufacturing or wholesale of excisable goods such as canned or bottled drinks, non-alcoholic carbonated beverages, cigarette and tobacco products, while the Harmonized ECOWAS CET, on the other hand, will affect importers of goods classified under the CET.
Although the CET is being implemented at the ports, an international review of the system has led to the addition of new products and subsequently tariffs to be borne by importers of same.
According to Citi Business News, some economists say government wants to rake in enough revenue to provide funding for some key programmes such as the free Senior High School policy.
Tax Stamp Policy: Gov't threatens to sanction non-compliant businesses in Ghana
Government has announced that it will sanction businesses that fail to comply with the March 1st deadline for the implementation of the Tax Stamp Policy.
Deputy Finance Minister, Kwaku Kwarteng advised businesses to comply with the 1st March 2018 deadline or risk facing sanctions under the law.
Earlier this week, the Food and Beverage Association of Ghana (FBAG) threatened to withdraw all locally manufactured products from the market if the government goes ahead with the implementation of the Tax Stamp Policy on March 1st.
The Local manufacturers in Ghana are worried that the implementation of the Tax Stamp Policy has the potential of collapsing local manufacturing companies.