Participants in a group photograph after the opening ceremony
VALUE ADDED Tax (VAT) administrators from seven African nations yesterday began a three-day technical workshop in Accra.
The 2019 Technical Workshop of the Forum for VAT Administrators in Africa (VADA) has participants drawn from Ghana, Rwanda, Malawi, Tanzania, Lesotho, Uganda, and Sierra Leone.
It seeks to, among other things, build the capacity of the staff of member authorities.
During the three days, participants would explore topics including audit of telecommunication companies – interconnectivity cost and revenue, auditing techniques in VAT with emphasis on E-commerce.
Speaking on behalf of the Deputy Commissioner of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Edward Gyambrah, at the opening ceremony on Wednesday, July 17, 2019, Daniel Edisi, the Deputy Commissioner of GRA, in charge of Small Tax Office, said the need to build capacity has become more important in an era when taxpayers were deploying the use of technology and other means to evade tax payment.
Touching on the changing business landscape across Africa and the world in the era of electronic commerce, he stated that member countries of VADA were undertaking far-reaching reforms and modernization programmes to respond appropriately to the growing needs of the taxpayer.
He noted that the amount of information and data potentially at the disposal of tax administrators were enormous but was quick to add that without the adoption of the appropriate technological solutions, the full potential may not be realized as huge revenue would be lost.
BY Melvin Tarlue & Donny Morrison