Interoperable payment system to be launched this year – Bawumia hints

Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia says the interoperable payment system for Ghana is at the completion stage and would hopefully be launched this year. The implementation of an interoperable payment system between the mobile companies and the banks will make room for financial inclusion and allow, for instance, a lot of people in both the rural and urban areas to pay their taxes with ease, he remarked. “As far as the technical work is concerned, work is completed on an interoperable payment system for Ghana. Now we have to go through a number of issues including the governance framework and others. But it will be launched by the end of this year or early next year.” The Vice President was speaking at the closing ceremony of the 38^th Commonwealth Association of Tax Administrators (CATA) conference in Accra where he urged delegates to put to good use knowledge acquired throughout the conference. He emphasized the need for digitization of tax systems across Africa for more efficiency in tax administration. “I believe we have reached a stage in our development where we must adopt appropriate, current and improved technology to make tax administration convenient for taxpayers.” Dr. Bawumia further said, government is putting plans in place to leverage technology in order to broaden Ghana’s tax base to lower the burden of taxation and enhance tax collection. “The Ghana Revenue Authority is taking advantage of technology to implement an e-solution platform, the Total Revenue Integrated Processing System (TRIPS) to administer taxes,” the Vice President added. The CATA Conference which was under the theme “Leveraging Technology to Enhance Revenue Administration”, provided a platform for tax administrators from different African countries to dialogue on incorporating the use of newly advanced technologies in tax administration. Dr. Bawumia charged the delegates to be ambassadors of what technology can do and take initiatives in recommending e-solutions to deal with tax issues. This he said will reduce the turn-around time for taxpayers to do business and also improve service delivery. By Irene Amesimeku|editors.3news.com|Ghana