Business entities urged to file tax returns

Mr. Samuel Tetteh, Koforidua District Manager of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has appealed to business and corporate entities to file reliable tax returns on their earnings and expenditure to ensure that proper assessment for tax payment was done.

He said, often people complained about high tax assessment and explained that the situation occurred because without reliable tax returns, the IRS would not be able to determine exactly to what pertains and give tax assessment.

The district manager was speaking at the fourth tax week celebration in Koforidua on Wednesday, where the Eastern Regional Minister, Mr Kwadwo Affram-Asiedu filed his tax returns.

Mr. Tetteh, who expressed concern about the low attendance of government officials, and business entities at the programme said tax payment was a statutory obligation that must be heeded by all.

Explaining the rationale behind the tax week celebration, he said the filing of returns by prominent and opinion leaders in the society further deepened the education on taxation to the citizenry and also set an example for them to follow.

According to Mr. Tetteh, the only group of persons that were exempt from the tax laws were those who did not earn any income.

To further buttress his point, he cited the gift tax for instance and explained that under that law even beggars were supposed to pay tax because what they earned could be described as income.

The Regional Minister stressed the need for people to pay their taxes for development and urged the IRS to broaden the tax base.