Ghana plans to reintroduce a mining windfall tax

The Budget and Economic Policy Statement of 2013 reiterates the willingness of the government to implement a windfall tax on mining profits.

The windfall profit tax was introduced in the Budget and Economic Policy Statement of 2012 and was debated, but not implemented, by Parliament in 2012.

The 2012 proposal was that all entities engaged in mining operations in Ghana would, in addition to their annual corporation tax, pay a windfall tax on their adjusted cash balances for the relevant period. The windfall tax rate proposed was a flat 10% on the adjusted cash balance, such balance being calculated by deducting from chargeable income all taxes paid or payable, all capital expenditures incurred on depreciable assets and inventory during the year of assessment and adding any interest allowed as tax deduction,  capital allowances and any negative cash allowance brought forward. The windfall tax would apply to any positive tax adjusted cash balance after the relevant deductions and additions are made.

Despite the opposition of mining companies, this tax was again debated, however the conditions of its implementation are not yet determined, in particular its interaction with the stabilisation provisions.

For further information, please contact Linda Feniniche, Avocat, Hiba Abi Haidar, Avocat, Paris or your usual Herbert Smith Freehills contact.