Speaking at a press briefing on tax policy measures in the 2018 Mid-year budget review, Mr Nti warned that GRA after the end of the expiry date, would be very tough on all tax defaulters’ and evaders.

“Let me use this opportunity to remind businesses and all income earning persons that GRA will go after all persons who failed to take advantage of the opportunity. All the appropriate sanctions provided in the various tax acts including prosecutions will be visited on tax evaders and defaulters to make sure that all citizens contribute their quota to nation building,” he said.

The Tax Amnesty Act, 2017 Act (955), provides an opportunity for all income-earning Ghanaians to regularise their tax affairs with the GRA to put businesses on a legitimate footing, and avoid sanctions and legal consequences in the future.

It applies to taxpayers and potential taxpayers who have defaulted in registration with GRA, filing of tax returns by due dates, paying taxes on due dates and making full disclosure of Financial Reporting, to discharge their obligations voluntarily in exchange for forgiveness of and /or in some cases the tax, interests and penalties without fear of prosecution.

On the tax policy measures, Mr Nti said the changes were the restructuring and delinking of the national health insurance levy and the Ghana Educational Trust Fund levy from the main Value Added Tax (VAT), and the introduction of a new band in the personal income tax rates.

This means that effectively, the rate for the Value Added Tax (VAT) is 12.5 per cent for the VAT Standard Rate Scheme.However, he said, in accordance with the VAT (Amendment) Act 954 2017, entities that were recently appointed as VAT Withholding Agents by the Commissioner-General, would continue to account for withholding VAT/NHlL/GETFL at 7 per cent of the taxable value to GRA.

He said it was important for the public to know that with the amendments, VAT registered taxpayers could not claim the NHIL and the GET FUND levies charged on their purchases as input tax.Mr Nti said a modified Commissioner-General’s invoice on which VAT and NHIL and the GET FUND LEVY were collected had been designed and will soon come into use.

“Pending the coming into use of the modified Commissioner-General’s invoice, taxpayers can continue to use the old VAT invoice,” he said.He said taxpayers authorised to use computer generated invoices are to modify their accounting software to accommodate these levies.