TaxDev researchers visit Ghana

In March 2022, TaxDev co-organised a number of workshops in collaboration with partners from the Tax Policy Unit (TPU) at the Ministry of Finance and the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA).

VAT workshop

At a two-day workshop, TaxDev researchers presented the interim findings from their analysis of VAT policy in Ghana to representatives from the TPU, GRA, and HMRC. This was followed by an in-depth discussion amongst participants about how the VAT is administered.

The workshop is part of a wider collaborative effort to comprehensively review the VAT system in Ghana. The recommendations from the workshop will be integrated into a final report due in Summer 2022.

Microsimulation training

The team also delivered a refresher training on the GHATAX microsimulation model for TPU staff. The model - which has recently been updated to incorporate a user-friendly MS Excel interface - enables analysts to examine the revenue and distributional impacts of existing tax and transfer policies, as well as simulate the effects of possible new policy reforms.

Discussions during the training focused on the uses, strengths, and weaknesses of the model, and the data and assumptions underpinning it. The session concluded with participants simulating the effects of a number of hypothetical direct and indirect tax policy reforms. Over the next few months, Abdul Malik Iddrisu, TaxDev's Country Adviser in Ghana, will work closely with TPU staff to build greater familiarity with the new interface and the model's outputs.