Ho, May 5, GNA - Compliance rate on rent tax is low in the Volta Region because of ignorance, Mr Kwesi Oppong-Damoah, Regional Director of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) said on Tuesday. He said many property owners in the region were confusing rates paid to the local government bodies with income tax payable to the IRS.

Mr Oppong-Damoah was interacting with the media in Ho as part of this year's "Revenue Week" which was on the theme, "Enhancing Tax Compliance: The Responsibility of the Income Earning Property Owner." He said efforts by IRS staff through appeals and seminars to get property owners to comply with the law voluntarily yielded very little. Mr Oppong-Damoah said the law states that anybody who received rent ought to pay tax on it, explaining that only estate developers in the business of constructing residential or commercial premises for sale or letting were exempted for a period of five years. He said anything contrary to provisions in the law attracted penalties and warned offenders to comply or be sanctioned.

Mr Oppong-Damoah said companies that were allowed to withhold taxes were supposed to pay those monies after a three-month grace period or face sanctions. He said the informal sector remained the difficult area for the IRS but said strategies were being devised to collect large amount of collectable taxes from that sector. Mr Oppong-Damoah said tax education was being done on radio and television in local languages to enhance the understanding of the subject by all. "Tax education is an ongoing activity and we will continue to visit the market and identifiable areas to educate people on the need to file their tax returns," he said.