New Tax Stamp For Informal Sector

A new tax stamp aimed at maximising revenue mobilisation from those operating in the informal sector of the economy will come into force on February 1, 2005.

The proposed stamp will be a mandatory for all small-scale self-employed business people, such as hawkers and table-top traders. It will be issued to taxpayers quarterly in exchange for up–front tax payments.

Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Commissioner, Janet Opoku-Akyeampong disclosed this in Accra yesterday at a press briefing on the new tax stamp for regional and district heads of the Service.

She said four categories of tax stamps namely A, B, C and D would be issued according to the volume of the taxpayers business, adding that each of the categories of stamps would have a distinctive colour to be subject to change every quarter of the year.

Mrs Opoku-Akyeampong explained that taxpayers in category A to be denoted by a red stamp would pay ¢250,000 quarterly; category B with a blue stamp, ¢150,000; category C with a green stamp, ¢100,000, while D with a yellow stamp would pay ¢50,000.