Parliament Passes Bill to Track Tax Evaders Worldwide

The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) can now track financial accounts of certain entities or individuals both home and abroad, following the passage of the Standard for Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information Bill, 2017 into law by Parliament.

The passage of the Bill will enable the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) exchange information with other tax administrations in the world, regarding certain financial accounts of entities or individuals.

The new legislation imposes on financial institutions an obligation to report information regarding the financial accounts of reportable individuals or entities to GRA and conduct due diligence with respect to the accounts.

A Deputy Finance Minister, Kweku Kwarteng who moved a motion for the passage, said one critical requirement to the fight against tax evasion is cooperation among tax administrations.

A memorandum accompanying the bill before its passage into law said the new global standard has led to the development of model of automatic exchange of financial account information referred to as the Common Reporting Standard which allows jurisdictions to automatically exchange financial account information with their exchange partners.

The new law provides a legal framework for the implementation of the Common Reporting Standard approved by the Council of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development in July 15, 2014.

The law also seeks to implement the common reporting standards approved by Council of the OECD, which designates the Commissioner General as the competent authority to ensure an improved international tax compliance by imposing on financial institutions an obligation to report information regarding certain financial accounts of an individual or an entity to the GRA.

Chairman of the Finance Committee of Parliament, Dr. Mark Assibey-Yeboah who seconded the motion and presented his Committee’s report later in an interview with the PUBLISHER, explained the rationale behind the bill.

“So, now, if I hold an account in the US, we can write to tax authorities in the US to furnish us with the account details of this Ghanaian.

“In the same way, if there is a foreigner who has an account here and the foreign authorities want to find out they could also write to the authorities here.

The new law is also expected to address the issue of vast amounts of monies that are kept offshore and go untaxed to the extent that taxpayers fail to comply with tax obligations in their home jurisdiction.

By: Christian Kpesese/ thePublisher