Taxing of non-resident e-commerce entities in Ghana could push prices up – Technology Consultant
Technology Consultant and Digital Lead of Pop Out, Maximus Ametorgoh says consumers in Ghana are likely to pay a little bit more for products purchased on E-commerce platforms as the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA’s) prepares to introduce a non-resident E-commerce and Digital Service Registration Portal, to help with the taxation of e-commerce platforms operating in Ghana.
According to the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) the new portal, which is expected to commence operations from 1st April 2022, will help the authority collect about GH¢1.7 billion in revenue from online businesses like Netflix, Jumia, Alibaba, and Amazon among other.
The launch of the revenue mobilization portal comes on the back of complaints from the Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta that less than 10 percent of Ghana’s 30.8 million population pay direct taxes, a situation he said was “a poor reflection” on the country when compared to other middle-income countries.
In an interview with Citi Business News on the new portal of the GRA, Technology Consultant and Digital Lead of Pop Out, Maximus Ametorgoh, noted that while the new portal is a step in the right direction, the laws of Ghana should be worked on to ensure more online activities are taxed.
“I think it’s a step in the right direction because a lot of e-commerce happens within the virtual space of Ghana which goes untaxed. They however need to work on the laws of Ghana to cover more areas of the virtual space for taxation purposes.”
Mr. Ametorgoh further added that prices of things bought via e-commerce platforms operating in Ghana are likely to rise marginally, but charged Ghanaians to support the GRA’s efforts by paying for the increases.
“Definitely the consumers will have to pay a bit more in terms of the cost of the product they buy online. We should expect that when we buy something on Amazon, or Google and the likes there will be some taxes that will be applied and the cost of the product may go up. We should however pay for the increases because as citizens we should also pay our taxes. With the amount of money being spent on the e-commerce space in Ghana government should certainly have its share of that cake.”
Source: Ghana Business
