In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires

“adjusted assessment” means an assessment adjusted under section 39;

“assessment” means a determination of the amount of tax liability made under a tax law, whether by the Commissioner-General or by way of self-assessment, and includes the matters identified in the Second Schedule;

“arrangement” means

(a) an action, agreement, course of conduct, dealing, promise, transaction, understanding or undertaking, whether express or implied, whether or not enforceable by legal proceedings and whether unilateral or involving more than one person; or

(b) a part of an item described in paragraph (a);

“authorised economic operator” means an internationally certified person whose role in the international supply chain is secure and is in compliance with customs controls and other procedures;

“Authority” means the Ghana Revenue Authority established under the Ghana Revenue Authority Act, 2009 (Act 791);

“Board” means the governing body of the Ghana Revenue Authority;

“business” includes a trade, profession or vocation, but does not include employment;

“Commissioner-General” means the Commissioner-General appointed under section 13 of the Ghana Revenue Authority Act, 2009 (Act 791);

“cost of charge and sale” with respect to charged assets means expenditure incurred or to be incurred by the Commissioner-General or an authorised agent

(a) under section 52 or 55 with respect to creating or releasing the charge; or

(b) under section 53 or 54 with respect to taking possession of, holding or selling the charged assets;

“Court” means High Court;

“conveyance” includes a ship, aircraft or vehicle;

“currency point” is equivalent to one Cedi;

“document” means an account, assessment, book, certificate, claim, declaration, note, notice, order, record, return, ruling, or other statement in writing, whether in electronic or other form;

“entity” means a company or other corporation, partnership, trust, government agency or, to the extent recognised as a person or taxable person by another tax law, any other entity but excludes an individual;

“file”, in relation to a document, includes lodging or furnishing the document including by electronic means;

“Gazette” means the Government Gazette;

“Government” means Government of Ghana;

“international arrangement” means a treaty or agreement between the Government of Ghana and a foreign government providing for

(a) relief of international double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion;

(b) reciprocal assistance for the administration or enforcement of tax laws; or

(c) reciprocal concessions in respect of goods grown, produced or manufactured in or imported from a contracting State;

“manager”, in relation to an entity means a councillor, director, manager, member, officer or other person who participates or may participate, whether alone or jointly with other persons, in making senior management decisions on behalf of the entity and includes

(a) a partner of a partnership and a trustee of a trust;

(b) a person treated as a manager of an entity by another tax law; and

(c) a person in accordance with whose directions and instructions the entity or a person described in the rest of this definition is required or accustomed to act;

“membership interest in an entity” means a right, whether of a legal or equitable nature, including a contingent right, to participate in income or capital of the entity and includes the interest of a partner in a partnership, the interest of a beneficiary in a trust and shares in a corporation;

“Minister” means the Minister responsible for Finance;

“original assessment” means an assessment that is not an adjusted assessment;

“person” means an individual or an entity;

“possessor” of an asset includes

(a) in relation to premises or a place, the owner, manager or any other person on the premises or place; and

(b) in relation to any other asset, including a document, a person from whom the asset is seized or taken;

“pre-emptive assessment” means an assessment raised by the Commissioner General under circumstances specified under Section 28(3);

“professional body” means a professional body registered under the Professional Bodies Registration Act, 1973 (NRCD 143);

“publicly available”, in relation to a note, ruling or other notice issued by the Commissioner-General, means making the note, ruling or notice available to the public at offices of the Revenue Authority and at such other locations or by such other medium as the Commissioner-General may determine;

“reduction”, with respect to tax, means an exemption, mitigation, deferment or remission that is in the nature of a concession or tax expenditure;

“restrain” includes detaining, locking up, marking, sealing, seizing, stopping, taking away or otherwise securing;

“security” for an obligation under a tax law is interpreted in light of section 8 and includes a charge created under section 52;

“self-assessment” means an original assessment under a tax law that is occasioned by a person filing a tax return rather than by the Commissioner-General making an assessment and includes the matters identified in the Second Schedule;

“statutory rate” means the Bank of Ghana monetary policy rate;

“tax affairs”, in relation to a person, includes all manners in which any provision of a tax law may apply to that person or the activities, assets or personal circumstances of that person;

“tax law” means

(a) to the extent that it is to be administered by the Authority, a law listed in the First Schedule to the Ghana Revenue Authority Act, 2009 (Act 791); and

(b) an international arrangement.

“tax officer” means an officer of the Authority;

“tax return” includes the matters identified in the Second Schedule;

“trust” means an arrangement under which a trustee holds assets but excludes a partnership and a company;

“trustee” means

(a) an individual or body corporate holding assets in a fiduciary capacity for the benefit of identifiable persons or for some object permitted by law and whether or not

(i) the assets are held alone or jointly with other individuals or bodies corporate; or

(ii) the individual or body corporate is appointed or constituted trustee by personal acts, by will, by order or declaration of a court or by other operation of law; and

(b) includes

(i) an executor, administrator, tutor or curator;

(ii) a liquidator, receiver, trustee in bankruptcy or judicial manager;

(iii) a person having the administration or control of assets subject to a usufruct, fideicommissum or other limited interest;

(iv) a person who manages the assets of an incapacitated individual; and

(v) a person who manages assets under a private foundation or other similar arrangement;

“withholding agent” means a person obliged to withhold tax from a payment; and

“withholding tax” means income tax that a withholding agent is required to withhold from a payment under the Income Tax Act, 2015 (Act 896)