Quality Assurance and the Contributions of Indirect Tax Revenues in Ghana: Tax Management Maturity Model as a Referent Approach

Abstract

Tax Revenue is the most vital source of revenue for governments. Indirect taxation offers much more revenue than direct taxation in most economies in the West African Sub-region since approximately 75% of government revenue is provided from indirect taxes, and only just 25% is derived from other non-taxes and direct tax sources. The study, therefore, assessed the contributions of indirect taxes to total tax revenues in Ghana using the tax management maturity model as a referent approach. The study adopted the ex-post facto research design, which is considered quasi-experimental. This study further made use of both primary and secondary data. The primary data was gathered through questionnaires. The study sample comprised business taxpayers in Ghana. A total of 165 businesses were conveniently sampled to participate in the study. The study covered the fiscal periods from 2010 to 2020. The study discovered that indirect taxes have a significant positive impact on the total tax revenue of Ghana. Concerning tax operations, the study discovered that filing and submission, payment of tax liability, and tax recordkeeping all have a role in driving tax assurance. It was also established that the task risk management issue included detecting and mitigating business and operational risks, with such risks and their mitigating procedures reported to interested parties. Monitoring and testing quality entail discovering and communicating control shortcomings, developing follow-up procedures, and monitoring methods and policies. It was recommended that tax accountants and directors of businesses and institutions assigned to accounting or tax records be regularly trained by their management to ensure quality assurance on the tax obligations of the firms involved. Keywords: Quality Assurance, Tax, Management, Maturity, DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/14-11-05 Publication date: June 30 th 2022