Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah and Ron Strikker signing the MoU
THE NETHERLANDS government and the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to work together in conducting audits in the area of transfer pricing within multinational companies.
The MoU covers two areas including the building of the capacity of audit officers of GRA in the Domestic Tax Revenue Division (DTRD) in the area of risk-based audits while the second area of assistance will be the transfer pricing unit of the large taxpayer office.
The duration for the programme is 18 months and starts from March 2020.
At a short ceremony for the signing of the MoU between the two countries, the Commissioner General of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah, said the transfer pricing was an aspect of tax avoidance scheme by which multinational companies exploited countries to reduce tax payment.
“We appreciate the support of the Netherlands government in the area of transfer pricing, since the risks that come with auditing of large and complex businesses often arise out of transfer pricing issues.”
He revealed that the authority would tap into the knowledge and experience of the Netherlands officials, adding that this will also help build the capacity of audit staff to enable them appreciate techniques in auditing to reduce abuse and ultimately rake in the needed revenue.
He urged officers who would be working with the team to take advantage of this opportunity, learn all that they could so as to be better equipped to handle complex audit cases.
The Dutch Ambassador to Ghana, Ron Strikker, in an address, said transfer pricing was an important theme for Ghana and the Netherlands in ensuring that companies paid their fair share of taxes.
“The transfer pricing focuses on transactions between intertwine companies with the risk of not having accurate pricing by the mother company,” he explained.
“I am very happy with the MoU today which will take us to another period of 18 months on the issue of cooperation between the Netherlands and Ghana.”
The Dutch Ambassador to Ghana also revealed that his government also had three programmes which were also between Ghana’s Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development and the Dutch Association of Municipalities. These will focus on property tax in 32 municipalities.
(lindatenyah@gmail.com)
By Linda Tenyah-Ayettey