Personal Tax Relief Schemes: Awareness and Usage among Personal Income Taxpayers within Kumasi Metropolis of Ghana

Abstract

To lessen burdens caused by enforcement of tax laws and to ensure equal distribution of tax burdens, good tax systems grant individual personal income taxpayers (PIT) reduction(s) in their taxable income through personal income tax reliefs schemes (PTRS). The Ghanaian tax system is no exception to this. The usage however depends on the taxpayer’s awareness and willingness to adopt. This study therefore sought to ascertain the PTRS awareness and usage level and the factors that influence the PTRS usage in mitigating tax burdens among individual Ghanaian PIT within the Kumasi Metropolis. Also, this study sought to impale research interest in PTRS usage considering its effects on government tax revenue and disposable household and national incomes. The study used a survey research design with sets of structured questionnaires. The results of the study are based on responses from 210 PIT from Kumasi Metropolis of Ghana analyzed using descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression. The results suggest that while there is fair level of PTRS awareness, PTRS usage remains very low among Ghanaian PIT from Kumasi Metropolis. The study also identified knowledge, awareness, challenges, and perception as statistically key factors that influence PTRS usage in mitigating tax burdens among individual PIT from Kumasi Metropolis. Consequently, this paper recommends that Ghana Revenue Authority and/or tax policy makers, social advocators and National Commission on Civic Education among others pay attention to these factors so as to step up interest in PTRS usage as means of mitigating tax burdens if voluntary tax compliance is to be encouraged.