Jubilee oil partners not paying corporate tax–Economist

An Energy Economist and a former member of the Civil Society Platform on Oil and Gas, Mohammed Amin Adam, has alleged that the jubilee oil partners have still not honoured their corporate tax obligation to the government of Ghana within the last year. Adam made the allegation on Tuesday during a round table discussion organized by the Danquah Institute with support from Citi FM. The jubilee oil partners include Tullow oil Plc, Kosmos Energy, Anadarko Petroleum and the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC). The jubilee contract requires the companies to pay quarterly corporate taxes to government. Speaking to Citi Business News, Mr. Adam blamed what he called the failure of the oil companies to honour their obligations on the inability of revenue authorities to enforce the payment of the taxes. “The contract requires the companies to pay corporate taxes quarterly,” he said. “The corporate taxes also constitute the largest of all the revenue streams that are coming to the government; talking about the royalty of 5%, carried interest of 10%, the additional paid interest of 3. 7% and the other smaller fees. ” He added, “If you come to the corporate tax, it’s about 60% of all the revenue coming into the state and so if you are not able to collect 60% of all the revenues that come into the government, then it means that you are running into stressful conditions…As we speak now none of the companies have paid its taxes…” Adam wondered why the partners have failed to pay the taxes when, according to him, they are clearly making profits.