As part of government’s effort to generate more revenue for development, it has introduced 10% withholding tax on betting and lottery wins effective Tuesday, 15th August, 2023.
Let’s take a look at how this 10% will be deducted from your betting winnings.
The tax will not charged on the amount invested in staking or playing the games. It will only be charged on the profit you have made from it.
Example, if you deposited ¢10,000 into your bet account on 15th August, 2023 and won ¢50,000, tax will be charged on your profit, which is ¢40,000.
HOW IT IS DEDUCTED
The 10% tax on your profit will be deducted once you withdraw your money. If you choose to withdraw the whole ¢50,000, ¢4,000 will be deducted as tax.
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There is however some worrying cases with this new tax system in some betting accounts. Some betting users who deposited money in their account before the 15th August, 2023 are being deducted tax even though they didn’t bet with such amount. They only deposited the money only for them to withdraw. They were deducted on their capital.
It will be recalled that in April, the government of Ghana announced plans to introduce taxes on all betting, games and lottery wins.
The new tax was widely criticised by young Ghanaians on social media, many of whom were involved in sports betting.
The betting industry in Ghana has seen tremendous growth in the last decade, leading to many betting companies setting up shop in the country.
In recent years, sports betting has often divided opinion among Ghanaians, with some quarters highlighting its effects on the youth.
Others also believe betting is legal and therefore cannot be described as a bad practice when no laws are broken.
The latest development follows the passage of the Income Tax (Amendment) Act, 2023 (Act 1094), which subjects all lottery wins to the withholding tax, to be deducted by the lottery operators and paid to the GRA.
In line with the law, the withholding tax deduction applies to winnings paid by private lotto operators of sports betting, casino operators, route operations (slot machines), marketing promotions, national lotto betting, remote interactive games operators, and others