TAXATION OF THE INFORMAL SECTOR IN GHANA: A CASE STUDY OF THE COMPLIANCE LEVEL OF ARTISANS IN BRONG AHAFO REGION.

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Date
August, 2015
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Abstract
The economy of Ghana is made up predominantly of the informal sector which employs a larger proportion of the working population. However very little can be said of it actual revenue contribution to the larger economy though it has great potentials in this regard (GTUC, 2004). Artisans are people who work with specialized skills mostly obtained through mentorship and apprenticeship. The low revenue contribution of this sector compelled the erstwhile internal Revenue Service to introduce Tax Stamps, a tax regime that categorizes various informal sector businesses by the nature of the business, size and volume of transaction in order to give fixed quarterly taxes. The issue of properly registering and taxing the informal sector is a major challenge and thus this study established the factors that promote tax compliance. Primary data was collected from 170 respondents using both closed and open ended questions for the four Direct Tax Districts in Brong – Ahafo. Ordinary least square model was used to predict compliance of artisans. The following factors were found to be significant: number of children of the artisan, number of years of working (experience) and educational level of artisan. However age was the only non-significant factor. It was found out from the research that artisans do not see the need to pay taxes because they receive no direct financial assistance from Government. As part of the recommendations, punitive measures such as seizure of business assets should be put in place to deal with artisans who do not fulfil their duties as citizens, thus payment of taxes.
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A Thesis submitted to the Department of Accounting and Finance, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Business Administration (Finance Option)
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