SCG Chartered Accountants recently held a webinar titled “Navigating Withholding Tax Audits”. The presenters discussed:

• Common issues that arise from Withholding Tax Audits.
• Challenges faced by taxpayers
• Ways to stay compliant.

Below is a summary of the discussion.

Common Issues

• Failure to withhold from payments made to third parties
• Application of wrong rates, especially payments to non-residents
• No evidence of withholding tax exemption letters from suppliers
• Late filing of WHT returns.

Some Practical Challenges of Complying

• Purchases from the open market are difficult to withhold on when making payments
• Suppliers grossing up WHT amounts on invoices to increase purchase prices:
• Inability to identify expenses that are not subject to WHT but included in the books:
• Individual expense items below the WHT threshold of Ghc 2,000

The presenters also discussed how to stay compliant. To learn more, here is a link to the full webinar by SCG Chartered Accountants.