2009 Goods and Services No. 6 ACT - Sierra Leone

1 THE Goods AND Services TAX ACT, 2009 ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONSS ectionPART I PRELIMINARY1. Fair market Related Supplies of Goods and Taxable Taxable Exempt Zero-rated Exempt Exemption from Supplies outside the scope of II IMPOSITION OF Goods AND Services TAX14. Imposition of III REGISTRATION15. Application for Registration of Cancellation of National register of persons registered for GSTPART IV RULES RELATING TO SUPPLIES19. Time of supply of Place of Value of Post-supply adjustments for GST adjustment Post supply adjustments for bad Reverse charge on imported V BASIC RULES RELATING TO IMPORTS25. Time of Value of VI CALCULATION AND PAYMENT OF GST NET AMOUNT27. Net amount of GST to be remitted in a tax VII INPUT TAX CREDITS28. Goods or Services for which no input tax credits are Input tax Acquisition or importation by resident VIII GST DOCUMENTATION31.

2 GST invoices and sales GST credit and debit Documentation issued by or to Requests for GST Retention of IX GST RETURNS AND PAYMENTS37. GST Due date for payment of GST payable on Due date for payment of GST on X REFUNDS41. XI ASSESSMENTS42. Assessments .43. Assessment of Negation of tax benefit from a General provisions relating to XII POWERS AND DUTIES OF THE COMMISSIONER-GENERAL46. Powers and duties of the to the Sierra Leone Gazette Vol. CXL, No. 37dated 20th August, 2009iiNo. 6 Goods and Services Tax Act200948. Power to require Power to seize Power to seal off Delegation of XIII MISCELLANEOUS52. Branches and GST inclusive or exclusive XIV REGISTRATION AT COMMENCEMENT OF GST55. Registration at the commencement of XV INTEREST, PENALTIES AND OFFENCES56. Interest on late General provisions on payment of Failure to pay GST by due Failure to apply for registration by due Failure to display registration Failure to notify changes affecting GST invoice, credit note, debit note, Failure to file return by due Failure to comply with notice for recovery of Failure to keep reliable Failure to provide Failure to comply with notice to give Non-compliance with GST-inclusive price quotation Penalty for making false or misleading Penalty for unauthorised collection of Sanction of Time limit for proceedings to be Failure to apply for Offences on cancellation of Tax Impeding tax administration.

3 77. Failure to preserve Improper claim of Offences by tax Failure to pay Offences under Regulations .82. Offences by Aiding and Falsification and alteration of Breaking sealed premises86. Impeding tax Compounding of XVI COLLECTION AND RECOVERY OF GST88. Recovery of Allocation of payments90. Garnishment91. Recovery of GST from persons leaving Sierra XVII OBJECTIONS AND APPEALS92. Reviewable Objections to reviewable Appeals to the Board of Appellate Commissioners or XVIII RECORD KEEPING AND INFORMATION COLLECTION95. Maintenance of accounts and Power to require provision of Power to enter and Translation of XIX TAXPAYER IDENTIFICATION NUMBER99. Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN).iiiivNo. 6 Goods and Services Tax Act2009No. 6 Goods and Services Tax Act2009 Short 62009 Sierra LeoneThe Goods and Services Tax Act, an Act to provide for the imposition of a broadbased taxon the consumption of Goods and Services in Sierra Leone and toprovide for other related matters.

4 [1st September, 2009 ]ENACTED by the President and Members of Parliament in thispresent Parliament of XX APPOINTMENT OF to appoint and obligations of of of of unincorporated of partnerships or unincorporated or insolvency of taxable person or mortgagee in treated as separate XXI FORMS AND , notices and authentication of of Validity of XXII interpretation of , savings and of tax into Consolidated of Act No. 11 of ScheduleSecond ScheduleThird ScheduleFourth SchedulevSIGNED this 10th day of July, 2009DR. ERNEST BAI KOROMA, 6 Goods and Services Tax Act2009No. 6 Goods and Services Tax Act2009No. 6 Goods and Services Tax 1 PRELIMINARY 1.(1) Subject to subsection (2), this Act shall have comeinto operation on the 1st day of September, 2009.(2) Sections 46, 47, 48, 51, 55, 58, 60, 62, 72, 73, 74, 75, 77,78, 80, 81, 84, 88, 93 and 95 shall be deemed to have come into operationon the 15th day of June, (1) In this Act, unless the context requires otherwise acquisition in relation to a supply, means-(a) Goods or Services supplied to a recipient bya supplier; or(b) the receipt of Goods or Services , by a personat the instigation of a supplier or under anagreement between a supplier and a recipient;and(c) if another person is treated as making asupply to the person, a corresponding receiptof that supply; aircraft s stores means stores for the use of thepassengers or crew of an aircraft or for the service ofan aircraft; approved form means a form approved under thisAct.

5 Capital asset means an asset, whether tangible orintangible, acquired by a person for use in theperson s taxable activity but does not include- (a) consumables or raw materials; or (b) an asset acquired for the principal purposeof resale in the ordinary course of carryingon the person s taxable activity, whether ornot the asset is to be sold in the form or statein which it was acquired; Commissioner-General means the Commissioner-General appointed under section 19 of the NationalRevenue Authority Act, 2002. company means an incorporated or unincorporatedassociation or body of persons created or recognisedunder an enactment in force in Sierra Leone orelsewhere, but does not include a partnership ortrust; court means the High court; discount means a deduction from the usual sellingprice in accordance with an internal policy of thetaxable person set out by the taxable person andapplicable to all customers that meet the internalpricing criteria; exempt, in relation to a supply or import, means-(a) a supply or import that is specified as exempt in the Second Schedule;(b) a supply of a right or option to receive asupply that will be exempt under the SecondSchedule.

6 Exempt use means the use of Goods or Services tomake an exempt supply including where-(a) Goods or Services initially acquired for thepurpose of making supplies other than exemptsupplies or purposes including supplies thatare used wholly in making exempt supplies; No. 11of 6 Goods and Services Tax Act2009No. 6 Goods and Services Tax Act2009(b) Goods or Services that are initially usedwholly or partly for making non-exemptsupplies but that at a later point (the time ofthe exempt use) are used wholly in makingexempt supplies, and for this purpose, awholly exempt use includes a usepredominantly to make exempt supplies,where the supplies used in making taxablesupplies will constitute less than 5% of thetotal use of the Goods or Services ; export, in relation to a supply of Goods ,means Goods delivered to or made available at,an address outside Sierra Leone , and for thispurpose evidence of (a) the consignment or delivery of Goods to anaddress outside Sierra Leone .

7 Or (b) the delivery of the Goods to the owner,charterer oroperator of a ship or aircraftengaged in international transport for thepurpose of carrying the Goods outside SierraLeone,is considered sufficient evidence that the Goods have been exported,in the absence of proof to the contrary; face value , in relation to a voucher, means a monetaryamount stated on the voucher (whether visibly,electronically or otherwise, including where theamount is intrinsically connected to the voucher bymeans of a unique identification number or someother means of linking the voucher with the amount),which represents the value of supplies of Goods orservices for which the voucher is redeemable; face value voucher means a voucher which entitlesthe holder to receive a supply of Goods or servicesup to the face value of the voucher; finance lease means-(a) a hire purchase agreement; or(b) a lease, other than a lease of land, that istreated as a finance lease under internationalfinancial reporting standards; gambling event means (a) the conduct of a lottery or raffle orsimilar undertaking; or(b) a race, game, sporting event or any otherevent which has or is intended to have anoutcome; gambling supply means (a) the supply of a ticket for a consideration(however described) in a lottery, raffle orsimilar undertaking; or (b) the acceptance of a bet for a consideration,however described, relating to the outcomeof a gambling event; Goods means real property or tangible personalproperty, but does not include money; government entity means (a) the Government of Sierra Leone or a Ministry,Department or Agency of Government.

8 Or(b) a body financed wholly or partly out of 6 Goods and Services Tax Act2009No. 6 Goods and Services Tax Act2009 Goods and Services Tax (GST) means a tax imposedunder this Act, and includes any amount, includinginterest or penalty payable under this Act, to theextent that it is treated as GST for the purposes ofthis Act; GST- exclusive fair market value means the fair marketvalue of a supply of Goods or Services beforecalculating GST, or where the value of the supplyincludes GST, reduced by an amount equal to the taxfraction as defined in section 21of that value if it wascalculated on the basis that the selling price wouldinclude GST; GST invoice means a document that a registeredsupplier is required to issue under section 31; GST properly chargeable, in the context of a GSTadjustment event under section 22, means the GSTthat would have been chargeable if the GSTadjustment event had taken place before the valueof the supply was calculated, and, if the supply is areverse-charged supply under section 24; GST return means a return, including an amendedreturn, that a taxable person is required to lodge underthis Act, or any other enactment relating to theadministration of this Act; holiday or hotel accommodation means-(a) a supply of accommodation in a building, partof a building or a group of buildings (includingall structures within the curtilage thereof) thatconstitute a hotel, motel, inn, boarding house,guest house, hostel or similar establishmentin which lodging is regularly or normallyprovided to four or more persons at a daily,weekly, monthly or other periodic charge.

9 Or(b) a supply of accommodation not covered byparagraph (a), if the accommodation is heldout for use for short term occupation byindividuals other than as their main residencefor continuous periods of less than 45 days; import has the same meaning assigned to it in theCustoms Act; importer has the same meaning assigned to it in theCustoms Act; input tax, (a) in relation to an acquisition by a person,means the GST imposed on the supply to theperson of the Goods or Services acquired;and(b) in relation to an import of Goods by a person,means the GST imposed on that import andincludes any amount that is treated as inputtax under this Act; input tax credit means a credit for input tax allowedunder this Act; international assistance agreement means anagreement duly ratified by Parliament between theGovernment of Sierra Leone and a foreigngovernment or public international organisation forthe provision of financial, technical, humanitarian oradministrative assistance to the Government; international transport means the supply of 67 Cap 6 Goods and Services Tax Act2009No.

10 6 Goods and Services Tax Act2009(a) Services , other than ancillary transportservices, of transporting passengers orgoods by land, road, rail, water or air (i) from a place outside Sierra Leone toanother place outside Sierra Leone , ifthe transport or part of the transporttakes place in the territory of SierraLeone;(ii)from a place outside Sierra Leone to aplace inside Sierra Leone ; or(iii)from a place in Sierra Leone to a placeoutside Sierra Leone ; (b) Services of transporting passengers from aplace in Sierra Leone to another place in SierraLeone to the extent that transport is by aircraftor ship and constitutes internationalcarriage as defined in Article 3 of theConvention on International Civil Aviation; (c) Services , including ancillary transportservices, of transporting Goods from a placeinside Sierra Leone to another place insideSierra Leone to the extent that those servicesare supplied as part of the supply of servicesto which paragraph (a) applies and by thesame supplier; or (d) Services of insuring, arranging for theinsurance of or arranging for, the transportof passengers or Goods to which paragraph(a), (b), or (c) applies; invoice means a document notifying an obligationto make a payment; Minister means the Minister responsible for finance; money means (a) any coin or paper currency (whether of SierraLeone or of another country);(b) a negotiable instrum