Beginning from the next academic year in September 2019, parents and guardians will now have to show proof of their tax identification numbers (TINs) before their children and wards can be allowed to benefit from the free senior high school (SHS) programme.
The move by the Ministry of Finance is to ensure that people are tax compliant before they are allowed to benefit from government-sponsored social intervention programmes and policies.
It is also aimed at ensuring that all Ghanaians obtain TINs to give the government a proper and comprehensive view of people’s earnings for the purposes of tax administration and collection.
Consequently, the Director of the Revenue Division at the Ministry of Finance, Mr Anthony Dzadra, has advised parents and guardians who do not have TINs to endeavour to register or risk having their children and wards barred from benefiting from the free SHS programme, beginning from the 2019 academic year.
In an interview after a post-budget forum in Accra last Monday, Mr Dzadra disagreed with suggestions that linking the TIN to free SHS would prevent needy persons from benefiting from the programme.
The post-budget forum was organised by the Finance Ministry for members of the Institute of Finance and Economic Journalists (IFEJ).
