Customers of the various telecommunication companies can now heave a sigh of relief because telcos have today (Tuesday, November 26, 2019) halted the 9 percent upfront deduction of the Communication Service Tax (CST).
The telcos agreed to stop the upfront talk tax deductions and implement it based on usage following a directive by the Ministry of Communications.
Last week, the Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications also announced the cessation of the deduction given the completion of the reconfiguration of its systems to accommodate the commercial and technical requirements for the suspension.
Some customers told Citi News they did not experience the deductions today when they purchased airtime and data bundles.
“It is true that they have stopped the deduction. I bought GH₵2.00 worth of airtime and when I checked my balance, it was exactly the same amount. I was surprised but its very good that they have stopped. The deduction was a major source of worry,” a customer said.
Another said: “After I loaded the airtime, nothing was deducted. I bought GH₵12 and I still have GH₵12.”
For one other:
“I have bought airtime for a couple of people and indeed the telcos are no longer taking the CST tax.”
Communications Minister sued for ordering telcos to cease upfront CST deductions
The Minister of Communications, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful was sued for ordering the telecommunication companies to stop the upfront deductions.
She was sued together with the Attorney General and the Mobile Telecommunications Networks by a private citizen called Dzifa Gunu.
In his writ sighted by citinewsroom.com, Dzifa Gunu argued that the Communications Minister’s directive to the telcos to cease giving upfront notifications on tax deductions made from purchased airtime is an interference with his right to information as a consumer or subscriber and “thus contravenes article 21(1) (f) of the 1992 Constitution and same is illegal and wrongful”.
Stopping upfront ‘talk tax’ deductions an act of intimidation – Sam George
A member of Parliament’s Communication Committee, Sam George, had accused the Ministry of Communication of extortion in the directive to telcos to cease the instant deduction of the Communications Service Tax (CST).
Sam George, said: “what she [the Communications Minister] is doing right now is basically intimidation which is extortion on a national scale.”
He also reminded that the CST, which was increased from 6 percent to 9 percent, was a consumer tax and could not be treated as a corporate tax.
“The Minister, who is a member of Parliament, is oblivious of the fact, by this letter she has written, that the CST is a consumer tax and that she, as a Minister, does not have the power to vary an act of Parliament because the CST is backed by an act of Parliament. What she is demanding the NCA to do is to convert a consumer tax into a corporate tax. It is not backed by law,” the legislator said.
