Effective April 1, 2021, the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) will convert all National Identification numbers into Tax Identification Numbers (TIN).
This forms part of efforts to identify and rope in more eligible taxpayers, especially those in the informal sector and enable organizations to easily share important data with the Authority.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in his State of the Nation Address in Parliament on Tuesday, March 9, 2021, stated that effective April 1, 2021, all National Identification numbers will become Tax Identification Numbers.
The Ghana Card currently has over 15 million bearers who are both resident and non-resident, as well as legally and permanently resident foreign nationals.
It is the primary card that serves as proof of one’s identity, citizenship and residence of the holder.
The card holds all details of its bearers including, Tax Identification Number, Passport, Drivers’ license, National Health Insurance amongst others.
The move also forms part of efforts to broaden the tax net.
In doing so, the number of persons registered by GRA for tax purposes will increase from the current three million to 15.5 million.
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It will also increase the number of people on the SSNIT database from four million to 15.5 million.
Commissioner General of the GRA, Rev. Ammishaddai Owusu Amoah who spoke to the media ahead of the commencement of the exercise expressed optimism that the GRA will from this year be able to increase its revenue collection well as help government in its digitization agenda as all ID cards are gradually merged into the Ghana card.
We are hopeful that even this year, revenue collection will increase and even more so as the years go on, we will be able to identify more eligible taxpayers.”
He also explained that there will be a transition period from April 1, 2021, to December 31, 2021, where both the TIN and Ghana Card PIN may be used simultaneously as the unique number for tax identification purposes after this period, it is expected that all existing TINs will be replaced with the Ghana Card PIN.
Also, to ensure a seamless roll-out of this initiative, registration officials of the National Identification Authority (NIA) are currently stationed at fourteen (14) GRA offices across the country to register individuals who do not possess a Ghana card.
Some of the offices include TIN Centre, Registrar-General’s Department, Accra, TIN Centre, Customs Long Room, Tema Taxpayer Service Centre, Spintex Road Taxpayer Service Centre, Adabraka amongst others.