MTN said it received the news this week
The company said, “MTN Ghana believes that the tax due has been paid during the assessment period and has decided to defend MTN Ghana’s position on the assessment,”
Africa’s biggest wireless operator is increasingly facing tax problems on the continent.
MTN won the conflict in Nigeria in 2020 when the government had to drop a $2 billion tax claim after a 16-month battle.
Most recently, Vodacom Group Ltd. has been involved in controversial tax demands in Congo that have seen the government close parts of its offices and freeze them.
A spokeswoman for GRA, Florence Asante, said she could not immediately comment when reached by phone.
Ghana, which has lost access to international capital markets due to ballooning debt and loan servicing costs, suspended interest payments on its external debt last month. The nation is trying to restructure its obligations to meet a $3 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund.
MTN said in a statement that the GRA has begun an audit of its Ghanaian business in 2019 to look at the “reliability and completeness” of the income declared over a five-year period. GRA has not issued the unit with any guidelines or standards related to the new audit methodology, MTN said.
“MTN Group and MTN Ghana will continue to engage with the relevant authorities on this matter and MTN remains determined that MTN Ghana is a tax compliant corporate citizen,” the company said. his bank account.
The Ghana Revenue Authority is using third-party consultants as well as new methodologies, the company said.
“MTN Ghana strongly disputes the accuracy and basis of the assessment, including the methodology used to conduct the audit,” the company said.