Tax Relief for Private Universities Needless

 Head of Tax at KPMG, Emmanuel Asiedu, has described government’s tax relief for private universities as needless.

According to him private universities are profit making entities and therefore cannot enjoy tax relief.

Mr. Asiedu who was speaking at the KPMG Budget Forum held in Accra recently said “Government should not think that the private universities will invest because they have been given a zero-tax rate.

“Give them the benefits when they have invested so that when they put their monies into the capital expenditures for the universities you give them additional tax allowance”, he stressed.

The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Atta, in presenting the budget recently announced that privately-owned universities will be granted some tax reliefs to enable them thrive and admit more students.

The Minister made the announcement following complaints by private Senior High School owners that they are losing their investments due to the implementation of the free SHS policy.

Electronic Tracking of VAT/NHIL

Touching on the electronic tracking of Value Added Tax (VAT) and the National Health Insurance Levy (NHIL), he said if government intends implementing the system they should target the informal sector.

“It is the informal sector that we have the challenge and therefore that’s where we should target, for example the opera square area and the restaurants etc. This system is supposed to operate more on point of sale best known as cash activity transactions as against credits”, Mr. Asiedu said.

He also commended government for its decision to abolish import duties on agricultural equipment.

According to him this will help boost productivity in the agriculture sector.

Source: Emmanuel Yeboah Britwum/ thePublisher