The sector minister Ursula Owusu-Ekuful made the claim when she appeared before parliament on Friday to account for taxes collected from the Telcos through technical partner KelniGVG.
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We did not under-declare taxes - Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications rejects Ursula Owusu's claim
The Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications has rejected claims by the Minister for Communications that its member companies under-declared taxes due government.
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“The introduction of the CP has uncovered that, prior to the introduction of the CP, ¢470 million in taxes was lost from potential under-declarations between 2015 to the first quarter of 2017.
“An estimated amount of ¢300 million in taxes was saved between Q1 of 2017 to date as a result of the announcement of the implementation of the CP on March 8th, 2017 and its actual implementation date,” she said among other things.
But a press statement released on Saturday and signed by its CEO Dr Kenneth Ashigbey, the chamber said: “AirtelTigo, MTN and Vodafone are good corporate citizens, showcasing an exemplary record of tax compliance as well as delivering on all their tax obligations.”
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According to the chamber, the content of the answer given by Ursula Owusu-Ekuful on the Common Platform (CP) in Parliament on Friday is almost similar to the earlier press conference held on the 14th of November 2019.
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While acknowledging the possibility of the claims, the chamber said the ongoing working relationship between the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), National Communications Authority (NCA) and/or their technical partner KelniGVG regarding the Common Platform does not support these allegations.
It added that the allegations have not even been brought to the attention of the Telcos being accused of the criminal act.
“Any revenue assurance best practice will expect that such findings if indeed were the case will be shared with our members for their response and reconciliation before onward engagement with external parties and the media.
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“We have requested since November 19, 2019, that this very report detailing these alleged tax misconducts as being espoused by the Ministry be brought to our urgent attention, but this request has not been met till date and our engagements with the Ministry and Regulators over the last nine months has never contained such an agenda for discussion,” he said.
The Chamber reiterated that the system within which its members operate, it is almost impossible to evade taxes as the minister has alleged.
“Financial reporting procedures within the telecoms industry are rigorous, and these include regular audits by the GRA as well as periodic ones by the NCA. These are in addition to assessments performed by bluechip external auditors with world-class reputations as done in other sectors.”
Read the full statement below:
We did not under-declare taxes - Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications rejects Ursula Owusu's claim
We did not under-declare taxes - Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications rejects Ursula Owusu's claim
Pulse Ghana
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We did not under-declare taxes - Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications rejects Ursula Owusu's claim
We did not under-declare taxes - Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications rejects Ursula Owusu's claim
Pulse Ghana
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