Justice George Kingsley Koomson, the Supreme Court nominee, has said churches in Ghana that engage in “typical commercial activities” must pay taxes.
Churches in Ghana (charitable faith-based organisations) are registered as limited companies by guarantee, implying that they are registered not to engage in operations with the view of making profits and are therefore exempted from the paying of income taxes on their core operations.
Appearing before the Appointments Committee of Parliament on Tuesday (18 October 2022), Justice Koomson said the laws must be looked at again to compel churches that convert from their core activities to profitmaking companies to pay taxes.
“Our laws should be looked,” the Justice of the Appeal Court said. “If the law is that charities are not to be taxed that’s where we have to start.”
“Churches who engage in commercial activities if we can do something about our laws and ask them to pay taxes, why not? The fact is that it’s from these taxes that we use to develop the nation. I would not say that it’s a bad practice to allow charities not to pay taxes or to pay taxes. If the laws can be looked at to find it necessary for the religious institutions to do so I think I’ll support it,” Justice Koomson said.
Watch the full vetting here:
To pay or not to pay?
The former General secretary of the Christian Council of Ghana, Rev Dr Kwabena Opuni Frimpong, back in 2019 expressed concerns about the wrong impression created in the public that churches do not pay taxes.
He said it is no secret that churches already pay taxes on their revenue-generating businesses.
“When people are talking about churches and taxes, we must understand what we are talking about. There is the impression that churches are not paying taxes, but it depends on what taxes you are talking about.
“There are churches that have hospitality businesses… they pay even VAT, there are churches that have buses, they pay taxes and even what the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) charges…those who are calling for churches to pay tax must define exactly what they mean,” he said on PM Express.
He said if the plan is to tax offertory at churches then tax collectors may be wading into a complex issue.
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