THE Ghana Oil and Gas Service Providers Association (GOSPA) has called on the government to institute a probe into the payment of taxes by operators in the Jubilee Fields to ensure that the country obtains the needed revenue.
According to the association, instead of investigating the issue, the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) is rather defending rotators who fly in to work on oil rigs and fly out of the country after every 28 days without paying taxes.
It has, therefore, called on the government, as a matter of urgency, to take the concerns raised in the Daily Graphic report on taxes, visa and work permits seriously.
The GRA, in a statement, cleared the oil companies of any possible revenue loss to the state.
At a press conference in Takoradi, it said the portion of the statement issued by the GRA showed clearly their lack of understanding of the operations of the oil and gas sector and that if they had taken their time to investigate the issue raised in the Daily Graphic publication the paper would have been vindicated.
“We also want to question in what capacity the GRA issued the statement as the spokesperson for the oil companies or legal officers?” the Executive Secretary of the association, Mr Nuety Agyeman stated.
He said the Ghana Income Tax Law quoted by GRA that foreign nationals who were employees of contractors , their affiliates and subcontractors should be exempt from income tax and withholding tax liabilities if they had been resident in Ghana for 30 days or less in any calendar year was wrong.
The Executive Secretary said “we stand by the Daily Graphic story and we can prove that the rotators both onshore and offshore work more than 200 days in a year and not 30 days as stated by GRA”.
GSOPA explained that all the rotators that the GRA referred to worked for more than 28 days in the country since they were still employees of the company even though they fly off to rest. "They are paid when they are off and return after 28 days and work. Therefore they have work more than 200 days in Ghana and we can prove it."
He said since they returned to the country and worked every other month, the section quoted by the GRA that “Foreign National Employees of Contractor, its Affiliates and its Subcontractors shall be exempt from the income tax and withholding tax liabilities if they are resident in Ghana for thirty (30) days or less in any Calendar Year” did not apply to the rotators.
“These rotators actually return to the country and do many 28-day sessions and get paid as continuing employees," he said.
GOSPA also called on the government to institute a probe into the claim by Tullow that within the last 20 months it had awarded $154.7 million worth of contracts to local contractors and service providers for the offshore Jubilee and Deep Tano projects. GRA should audit the said local companies to ensure that they appropriated taxes to the state.
A manifest of one of the rigs shows that some personnel onboard (POB), who were foreign nationals, made many trips in and out of the country. For example, on December 22, 2009, an assistant driller occupying cabin 332A went off after 28 days and came back on board the same rig on March 19, 2010 to occupy the same cabin.
Also, a hydraulic engineer, who was also on board the same rig on December 22, 2009 and occupying cabin 318A, went off and came back on March 19 2010.
These rotators have worked in the country for more than a year and were the same people whose particulars appeared on December 22, 2009 and were said to have left Takoradi Airport on Monday, October 11, 2010.
In the earlier story, the Communications Manager of one of the oil companies confirmed that some staff members of his outfit, whom he referred to as ‘rotators’, came into the country, worked and left after 28 days and returned after about a month or two to work again.
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