Effects of Ghana’s Current Public Procurement Regime on the Operations of Value Added Tax: A Case Study of the Ashanti Region VAT.

Abstract

Public Procurement is seen as a major tool for formulating, directing and implementing Government policies and programmes. Though a strong interrelationship exists between tax and public procurement; interest in this area of study remains very low. This study looks at how Ghana’s current public procurement regime affects VAT operations of trader registration, filing of VAT returns, and revenue collection. Information on registration, returns filing, and tax paid by temporary traders was collected at the VAT offices of in the Ashanti Region, spanning the period of January 2006 and December 2012. Analysis of data collected revealed that, the current public procurement system in Ghana has made some positive contributions to VAT operations; in the areas of increase in trader registration and increase in revenue collection. The current public procurement system has however, adversely affected the filing of tax returns as it has contributed to increase in non-filing rate.

Keywords: Public Procurement, Value Added Tax, Ghana, Ashanti Region.