SML Owes Ghana ₵31.88M in Taxes- Report

The audit report by the KPMG has revealed Strategic Mobilisation Ghana Limited (SML) owes the country a tax of ₵31.88 million from its transactions with the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA.)

The full report revealed that for a period of eight months the GRA did not deduct Value Added Tax (VAT) and withholding Tax (WHT) from payments made to the company amounting to GHC13.38 million.

This, the report affirmed contradicts GRA’s standard practice of deducting such taxes for payments to SML between 1 June 2020 and 31 August 2023.

Additionally, the report said the company failed to fulfil its statutory obligations by neither filing returns nor remitting these taxes to GRA.

“Pursuant to Section 71(1) of the RA Act, the accrued interest on the tax liability is estimated at GHC18.50 million owed by SML to GRA as of 31 January 2024. Consequently, the total liability incurred by SML amounts to GHC31.88 million.”

The revelation is part of the KPMG’s audit report on the Revenue Assurance contract and other agreements between the SML and the GRA ranging between 2017 and 2024.

The full report was reluctantly released by the Presidency on May 22 after the government took delivery in March.