Fakoyejo Olalekan
Ghanaian tax administrator, Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), has slammed MTN with GHS8,209,603,842.14 ($773 million based on dollar rate) fine for failing to declare the true state of its revenue.
It was gathered that the tax authority conducted an audit of MTN’s turnover between 2014 to 2018 and discovered that the sister company to MTN Nigeria allegedly under-declared its revenue, a decision that reduces the tax paid to the Ghanaian government.
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Recall that MTN Nigeria had also been fined $2 billion by the Nigerian government for tax liabilities dating between 2007 and 2017.
The fine was later settled out of court after MTN denied the allegations made by Nigerian Attorney General, Abubakar Malami.
MTN Nigeria was involved in other violations, such as offering service to unregistered subscribers despite the industry regulator’s warning. MTN was fined $1.5 billion.
The Nigerian subsidiary also paid a $53 million fine after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) accused MTN of illegally repatriating $8.13 billion to South Africa, the home of its parent company, MTN Group.
MTN dragged into another tax issue in Ghana
MTN disputed the claim by the Ghanaian authority, stating that the firm paid its taxes as required, but the tax administrator alleged that MTN under-declared about 30 per cent of its revenues between 2014 and 2018.
Ghana Revenue Authority said it used a new methodology based on Call Data Records (CDR), recharges, and other data to carry out the revenue assessment through a third-party consultant.
MTN protested the assessment, which was conducted in 2019, as a result, both parties agreed to employ an independent third-party consultant to review the report by the consultant hired by the Ghanaian government in 2021.
The telecommunication company said it was unaware of the new methodology. Following the completion of the review by the independent third-party consultant, it released a report stating it doesn’t the conclusion reached by the Ghanaian authority on the revenue of MTN.
Despite the statement from the independent third-party consultant, the tax administrator in Ghana went ahead to fine MTN $773 million.
