Emmanuel Mayah, Jeff Mbanga, Francis Kokutse and Nick Mathiason contributed to this joint investigation by the M&G Centre for Investigative Journalism (amaBhungane) and Finance Uncovered, a global reporting project involving journalists in 54 countries. Shortly after Cyril Ramaphosa left MTN to become South Africa’s deputy president last year, he lashed… – Continue reading
MTN Uganda has been accused of failing to provide evidence to justify shifting huge amounts of cash out of Uganda to a briefcase company located in Mauritius, potentially lowering its tax bill in Uganda – the subject of which remains an ongoing dispute with Uganda Revenue Authority, it has emerged…. – Continue reading
NIGERIA’S recent rating as “third to the last” on the 2015 global ranking of “Ease of paying taxes” is a good indication of why the country is not earning as much as it should from taxation. The country’s ranking as 187 among 189 economies covered by the survey, which assessed… – Continue reading
As discussed in the previous edition, due to current worldwide developments including the OECD’s move to curb tax Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS), tax policy is changing significantly. In Ghana for example, a Transfer Pricing Regulations was passed in 2012 which aimed to ensure that the tax base of… – Continue reading
PRESS RELEASE Three Memoranda of Understanding (MOU)/Agreements on bilateral cooperation between Mauritius and Ghana in various fields were exchanged yesterday at New Treasury Building, in Port Louis. The documents concluded pertain to the following: mutual visa exemption; standardisation and conformity assessment; and, tertiary education. The exchange of MOUs was held… – Continue reading
The Danish government is hopeful ratification of the convention for avoidance of Double Taxation agreements (DTA) with Ghana — and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with respect to taxes on income and capital gains between the two countries — will help to double Denmark’s investment in the country. This brings… – Continue reading
The UK will help Ghana clamp down on tax avoidance and evasion by sharing expertise to improve their tax system. The UK will work with the Government of Ghana to tackle tax evasion so the country can raise revenues and build stronger public services, International Development Secretary Justine Greening and… – Continue reading
DAKAR – Africa is usually perceived as a net beneficiary of the global financial system, with aid and investment flowing to the continent from richer parts of the world. This is simply not true. Illicit capital flight is draining Africa dry – costing the continent about one trillion dollars over… – Continue reading
The Government of Netherlands has successfully negotiated the inclusion of anti-abuse provisions, aimed at combating cross-border tax avoidance, in tax treaties with Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, and Zambia. At present, talks are being held with another seven countries and new agreements with several other countries are expected to be concluded… – Continue reading
FATCA – Which Countries Are In And Out The controversial US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) law is set to start from July 1, 2014, so with less than 21 days to go, here’s a look at which countries are in and who is outside of the tax network…. – Continue reading
India joined the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement on Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information on 3rd June, 2015, in Paris, France, alongwith Australia, Canada, Costa Rica, Indonesia and New Zealand. On our behalf, the Declaration to comply with the provisions of the MCAA was signed by H.E. Mr. Mohan Kumar,… – Continue reading
KARACHI: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has, during its probe into the Axact scandal, unearthed seven offshore companies that were being run by Shoaib Shaikh. According to FIA sources, the agency during the forensic inspection of the data retrieved from Axact’s computers seized by the authorities earlier has ascertained that… – Continue reading
For Ghana to close the gap between cash resources and funding needs for services and infrastructure, there is the need for a total rehash of the taxation system, Participants at a sensitisation tax justice workshop say. They said the rehash would recover taxes seeping through bad structural deals with multinationals… – Continue reading
Ghana and the Netherlands have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the Automatic Exchange of Information to help in efforts to fight tax evasion. The agreement would allow the tax authorities of the two countries to automatically provide each other with information about income from immovable property earned by… – Continue reading
Authorities of the Mion District Assembly in the Northern Region are unhappy about residents’ apathy towards paying their taxes. In the direction to increase the assembly’s Internal Revenue Mobilization (IGF), a Taskforce has been established to pursue the agenda. The Mion District Chief Executive, Dan Mankandan at a public sensitization… – Continue reading
Although the importance to Africa’s diaspora is largely discussed around remittances, many Africans are also coming back to join the public service. SOMALIA’S parliament just approved a new parliament, a crucial step on the road to voting on a new constitution and presidential elections scheduled for 2016. A key role… – Continue reading
Identities of Ghanaians said to have stashed $89million in a Swiss bank to evade tax could become public, Kweku Baako, Managing editor of New Crusading Guide newspaper has said. According to the veteran journalist, there has been some contact made with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists who are in… – Continue reading
Trade Ministry insists it will go ahead with the Ghana Conformity Assessment Programme, G-CAP despite resistance from businesses. The program which is being championed by the Ghana Standards Authority, will result in goods imported into the country being subjected to strict inspection at their original destination. G-CAP is intended to… – Continue reading
The Swiss Federal Council has adopted dispatches on five double taxation agreements, which will now be submitted to Parliament for approval. The treaties with Estonia, Ghana, Iceland, and Uzbekistan either replace or revise the current deals, while the agreement with Cyprus is Switzerland’s first with the territory. All of the… – Continue reading
n this second part of our overview of current transfer pricing regulations on the African continent, we focus on relevant provisions in, amongst others, Ghana, Nigeria and Uganda. The Ghanaian Transfer Pricing Regulations, 2012 (L.I.2188) (the Ghanaian Regulations) were introduced by the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) on 27 July 2012,… – Continue reading
…as FATCA comes into force in JulyGovernment is to broaden the current tax net to include Ghanaians engaged in economic activities or hold investments in the United States, Dr. Larbi Siaw, Tax Policy Adviser at the Ministry of Finance (MOFEP) has saidDr. Larbi said that implementation of the Foreign Account… – Continue reading
African countries are losing up to 12.7% of their national GDP due to shady practices in international trade. Global Financial Integrity, a Washington DC-based think-tank, reports that $542bn (£321bn) worth of capital was lost from Africa in illicit capital flows and estimates that almost 80% of this coming through “trade… – Continue reading
• Partnership creates end-to-end solution for enabling and ensuring FATCA compliance, including: data consolidation, indicia identification, additional KYC data/document capture, alerts/notifications and dashboards to monitor compliance, withholding calculations and remittance, and tax reporting. Banking analytics, risk and compliance pioneer, iCreate, today announced a strategic partnership with tax information reporting leader,… – Continue reading
It has emerged that about 140 million dollars in taxes were lost to the state in the mining sector alone between 2005 and 2007. In 2012, an additional 36 million dollars shipped abroad mostly to non-taxable offshore accounts on the blind side of tax authorities. The guilty parties are “big… – Continue reading
The Government of the Kingdom of Denmark and the Government of the Republic of Ghana have signed the Convention for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with Respect to Taxes on Income and Capital Gains In relation to the Danish Minister for Trade and Development… – Continue reading
ActionAid Ghana (AAG) said Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs) was depriving Africa of billions of dollars each year, more than is received in overseas development aid or foreign direct investment combined. It said IFFs were commonly associated with criminal activity like drug dealing, smuggling or human trafficking, adding that the United… – Continue reading
Ghana and Denmark have signed a Double Taxation Agreement, moving the bilateral cooperation between the two countries to another level. A Double Taxation Agreement regulates the tax treatment of income or capital gains in situations where the same taxpayer is subject to tax in two states with respect to the… – Continue reading
The quest of African countries to carry out economic stability and transformation is threatened by illicit financial outflows through tax evasion and avoidance, a UN expert observed here on Thursday. He said the draining of tax revenues and scarce foreign exchange resources stifled growth and socio-economic development and weakened governance…. – Continue reading
