Is the Law on Gift Tax Enforced in Ghana? - Question to the Ghana Revenue Authority

This publication is off on a tangent from what I had on mind to write today, Tuesday, 21 May 2019. Just as I was about to write my topic for the day, I had a call from my brother in Canada, once an accountant at the defunct International Tobacco Ghana Ltd (ITG). In the course of our convivial conversation, he raised the question of the payment of gift tax which is honestly speaking, not known to me although, I know of the payment of inheritance tax in the United Kingdom. He told me in 1983 while he was still an accountant, there was a law like that but which he cannot tell if it does exist today since he has been away from Ghana for three decades.

As we never stop learning to upgrade our knowledge and with the internet holding all the information one may need in the world, I quickly asked him to hold on while I conduct a quick search on the internet and bingo, there is still such a law in Ghana.

What brought about his query on the gift tax, one may ask? He raised that question just to know if the so-called men of God, Angel Obinim and Prophet Obofour as well as Captain Godsbrain Smart, the morally decadent newscaster or programme presenter at Adom FM radio, who boast of gifting luxury cars to their church members, friends, wives and children have sought to ensure that the recipients pay the gift tax.

My brother told me Captain Smart gifted a brand new luxury car to a Ghanaian lady he wedded in America after allegedly snatching a Belgium-based Ghanaian man’s wife, the distress of which culminated in the man’s death. What has he done to the woman he snatched from her husband in Belgium? Surely, she must have been dumped or else, Captain Smart would not wed another woman in the USA, although our Ghana custom and tradition permit us to marry more than one wife without being found guilty of bigamy. It serves that woman right! Anyway, this is just an irrelevant question but full of humour.

The deceitful man of God going by the name Angel Obinim, whose activities and pronouncements are more of a person losing his mental bearings than a sound-minded man let alone, a man of God, claims to have gifted thirteen expensive cars to his church members and wife? Again, Pastor or Prophet Obofour, a show off alleged man of God, who lives in a luxurious mansion with fleet of expensive cars, also claims to have dished out thirteen luxury cars to some friends, church members, daughter and wife, I should think.

My question is, have the recipients paid the requisite or mandatory gift tax on the cars so gifted to them? If they had kept quiet about them, nobody would know but once they had come out bragging about such gifts and putting them on the social media, the recipients must fulfil the mandatory payment of the gift tax.

From my internet search, I came across this, "She said the amendment of the VAT Act 810 on 31st December, 2010, had increased the gifts tax from 5% to 15% and made it mandatory for IRS to charge it on gifts received from loved ones. She noted that, gifts tax is not only levied on monetary gifts but on bonds, shares, permanent structures and land that were presented as gifts" For further details, read the contents of the web link below.

https://www.ghanabusinessnews.com/2011/03/24/ghana-revenue-authority-to-enforce-gifts-tax/

Are these pastors or prophets indeed men of God or they are simply con men pretending to be men of God? Do they really understand the bible and the teachings of Jesus Christ who they claim to the servants of? I doubt it. They are simply individuals conning their church members. I don’t care the source of their wealth as long as they have not stolen from the public purse or dubiously conned their church members. However, their lack of knowledge of the reality of the bible is very shocking!

The bible says in Matthew 6:1-2 – "1Be careful not to perform your righteous acts before men to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. 2So when you give to the needy, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be praised by men. Truly I tell you, they already have their full reward.…"

Where do these publicly trumpet-blowing pastors stand when they flood the social media with their show off good deeds? Because of this, have they not become stupid where the recipients of their gifts will be done for not paying gift tax if they have as yet not paid the mandatory gift tax?

The Ghana Revenue Authority owe Ghanaians an answer to whether or not the recipients of the cars from the three mentioned persons have paid the gift tax.

I hope I am done for today.
Thank you for enhancing my knowledge on payment of gift tax, Mr Kyei Boateng John of Toronto, Canada.

Rockson Adofo