The local authorities in Ghana have warned the two telecommunications companies, Tigo and Airtel to pay their operational tax dues to the local assembly or risk having their offices closed.
Organizations who have evaded paying their business operation fees within the Accra Metropolis have been given a 48-hour ultimatum by the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) to settle their outstanding amounts or face a possible close down of their business operations in the metropolis.
These telecommunications companies operating in Accra owe the Assembly huge sums of money in default of payment in respect of their Business Operating Permit (BOP) and Property Rate. They owe the local authorities a total of about GH¢3, 50,045,500 is recorded by the Finance Directorate of the AMA as being the amount these companies including some State Institutions owe the Assembly.
A statement provided by th Finance Directorate of the Assembly the defaulters are given
up to August 16th, 2013 to pay, cautioning the defaulters to comply with the directive or incur an additional cost of added interest, closure and possible legal action.
The Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) said, the move it is taking now is a measure to increase its internally generated funds [IGF]. It is also an initiative by the Mayor to help the Assembly recover revenue owed them dating back to three years.
It could be recalled that two mobile network operators in country, Glo and Vodafone Ghana, had their premises locked in by a team of Revenue Collectors from the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly in Kumasi for failure to fulfill their tax obligations.