VAT EDUCATES BUSINESS COMMUNITY (PAGE 18, AUGUST 21, 2010)

AUTHORITIES of the Suame VAT Office have organised the first of a series of seminars for Restaurant and Hotel operators within Suame in Kumasi to educate them on their rights and responsibilities as business entities .
The seminar was part of the initiatives of the Service to motivate the business community in the Kumasi Metropolis on the compliance of filing VAT returns to enhance adequate income generation for the country.
It was also meant to educate the participants for them to understand and appreciate their roles and responsibilities as business men and women, as well as their rights and sanctions under the VAT law.
About 80 participants attended the seminar which also sought to educate them on the role of the VAT in sustainable national economic generation to support national development.
They were also educated on the general operations of VAT, compliance under VAT with special references to keeping adequate records, issuance of VAT invoice to customers, charging VAT on all services rendered and the filing of VAT payments.
Addressing the participants, the Head of the Suame VAT Office, Mrs Agnes A. Adu-Boateng said VAT played a key role in the general development of the economy, especially in the provision of road infrastructure, schools, hospitals, pipe borne water and the payment of salaries among others.
She said two and a half per cent of VAT is put aside to support the Ghana Educational Trust fund to provide educational infrastructure “ at all levels of our educational institutions in Ghana”.
“The VAT through its collection of 2.5 per cent National Health Insurance Levy is the main source of funding to Ghana’s novel National Health Insurance Scheme which has come to replace cash and carry system and instituted communal funding of health care delivery to Ghanaians” she stressed.
She said it was important for business to keep adequate records in all their operations and also issue VAT invoices to customers.
Mrs Adu- Boateng also encouraged participant to charge VAT on all service rendered to customers and ensure that they filed returns of VAT payments regularly to avoid any form of sanction.
In his presentation, Mr Francis Ajor of the Suame VAT office explained that keeping good records was not only relevant to provide a ready data for the completion of their VAT returns, “but also help businesses to assess their performances on weekly, monthly and yearly basis”.
He expressed concern about the attitude of some traders who refused to offer themselves voluntarily for registration .
He therefore urged traders to register with the service and also encouraged them to charge the requisite taxes on services rendered to customers to enhance adequate income generation for the country .
He advised the participants not only to display their VAT certificate publicly, but also keep their Ghana Tourist Board and lodgers registers .
He said they were also obliged to display their rates and price lists , keep VAT sales invoices, as well as keeping annual accounts and bank statements of their businesses.
Mr Ajor warned that the VAT would sanction them if they failed to register their businesses or failed to issue VAT and levy invoices to customers they had served.
He said it was equally wrong for them to refuse to account for taxes collected for the office, falsify or alter documents of their operations or obstruct officers of VAT who approach them to perform any official duties.