2010. It has been hailed, and rightly so, by most football pundits as one of the most successful international sporting events organized by an African Country. Once again Ghanaian footballers made us proud by putting in their best to get to the quarter finals. Hopefully, they can improve on this splendid performance in the next World Cup to be staged in Brazil in 2014. We say
BRAVO and KUDOS to the Playing body and the Officials. A couple of issues have come up regarding taxation of earnings of our Black Star team and their handlers/officials from the World Cup 2010. There have been as usual debates in the newspapers, radio stations and other quarters as to whether the footballers and their handlers are required to pay taxes in Ghana or not. The purpose of this article is to clarify the taxation issues relating to the earnings of the footballers and their officials. Understanding some tax concepts
From the reading of the Internal Revenue Act, 2000 (Act 592) (IRA) (as amended), it can be noted that taxation of income in Ghana is based on the premise that the income is accruing in, derived from, brought into or received in Ghana in respect of business, employment or investment during the tax year except where the specific income is exempt from tax. This is particularly so if the recipient of the income is a “resident” person. The word “resident” as opposed to a “citizen” is used in the context of the IRA for purposes of tax. In simple terms, a resident individual is an individual who is a citizen of Ghana (but not a citizen who has a permanent home outside Ghana for the whole of the year of assessment).
As noted above, income from business will be liable