RELIGIOUS ORGANISATION SCHOOLED ON TAXATION LAWS (PAGE 18)

TAXATION is the price we pay for living in a civilised society, according to Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, a famous American judge.
Taxes are used to finance development projects and it is the duty of every citizen to fulfil his/her tax obligation to the state, though this is not voluntary.
Funds provided through taxation have been used by states and their functional equivalents throughout history to carry out many functions.
Some of these functions are the enforcement of law and order, protection of property, building economic infrastructure and the operation of government itself.
Also, most modern governments use taxes to fund welfare and public services, including the education systems, pensions for the elderly, unemployment benefits and public transportation.
Energy, water and waste management systems are also common public utilities, with the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) and the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) as typical examples.
It is against this backdrop that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Value Added Tax (VAT) Service have jointly organised a seminar for about 300 representatives of religious bodies at the Ghana Shippers Council auditorium in Takoradi.
The seminar was to take the crusade on tax to a higher level as part of the intensification of tax education in the country.
The seminar, which was held on the topic, “Obligations of religious bodies in Ghana’s taxation system”, was on the theme:, “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s”.
The participants were taken through such other topics as the rights of taxpayers, the obligations of the taxpayer, personal reliefs, filing of tax returns, reasons for filing returns, benefits of filing returns, types of tax returns, gift tax, taxable gifts, exemptions and return on gift tax.
Other topics were, rent tax, withholding taxes, record of payment of tax withheld, payments of tax withheld, failure to withhold tax, exempt organisation, taxes and other classification, Ghana’s tax system, tax administration, some tax administration concepts and the imposition of VAT and the National Health Insurance Levy.
It was expected that by the end of the seminar, the participants would be able to explain the reasons for the payment of taxes and the rights and obligations to their congregations. They would have understood the reasons for filing tax returns and the various types of taxes to be paid.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, the Western Regional Head of the Value Added Tax Service (VAT), Mr F. E. Sapathy, said it was cheating for one to underdeclare or evade the payment of tax.
“You are either cheating compliant taxpayers or the state,” he explained, adding that “we all know that cheating in any form is a sin. This is the message we want you as religious leaders to carry to your flock”.
“I must emphasise that as revenue collection institutions, we have taken time to organise this programme because we expect that as religious bodies, you need to be informed about your tax obligations,” he emphasised.
Mr Sapathy, therefore, entreated them to go back to their churches to teach members of their congregation, who owned businesses or engaged in businesses that attracted the various taxes to pay the correct amount of taxes.
“This is a religious duty we must all obey,” he said.
“As you all know, like your churches and mosques, tax is a very important source of revenue to the country. We owe it to ourselves to build our country and our churches are to play a vital role,” he emphasised.
The Western Regional Director of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Mr Eben Osabutey, said as a result of the global economic downturn the country’s external sources of loans and grants were drying up or had dried up.
He said the government had to intensify the generation of revenue internally, hence the huge challenge confronting the revenue agencies.
Mr Osabutey stressed that it was absolutely relevant for the churches and the state to co-exist and co-operate with each other, since they all had a common central philosophy, which was development of their members.
The Chief Inspector of the Tax Education Unit of the IRS, Mr Kwasi Bobie Ansah, emphasised that filing of tax returns was both a statutory and constitutional obligation.
Mr Ansah said filing of tax returns enabled the taxpayer to claim personal reliefs, all allowable expenses, capital allowances and tax over payments.
He explained that gift tax was not a new addition to the tax law, but had been there since 1975 and gone through many amendments.
He further explained that it was the recipient of the gift who paid the tax and not the donor and that if the value of the gift was less than GH¢50 it did not attract any tax.
Mr Ansah stressed that gift tax was self-assessment in character and that taxpayers were obliged to report any taxable gifts received within the year of assessment to the commissioner within 30 days of the receipt.