Ghana’s first-ever Independent Tax Appeals Board has been inaugurated.

The board is responsible for the resolution of tax disputes.

The 11-member board is chaired by Justice Lawrence Mensah, a retired Court of Appeal Judge.

Other members include the President of the Chartered Institute of Taxation, Nii Ayi Aryeetey; a retired Deputy Commissioner in charge of Special Duties at the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Customs Division, Peter Kwame Abebrese; a retired Justice of the High Court, Justice Kwabena Asumanadu, and the Managing Partner, Tax and Legal Affairs at advisory firm, WTS Nobisfields, Theophilus Tawiah.

The rest are a retired Chartered Accountant, Emmanuel Obeng Asiedu; the Administrator of the Diaspora Affairs Department at the Office of the President, Fauziah Ibrahim, a lawyer and former Director of the Legal Directorate of the Ministry of Finance, Mangowa Ghanney; a retired Assistant Commissioner and Head of the Transport Unit at the GRA, Samuel Narh Ojangmah; the Managing Partner of ikern Associates Limited and ikern Chartered Accountancy, Isaac Nyame, and a Senior Manager for Banking Operations of Bond Savings and Loans Company PLC, Catherine Quaidoo.

The board was sworn into office by the Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta who called on them to ensure speedy adjudication, accuracy and fairness in tax dispute resolution and transform the country's domestic revenue mobilisation efforts.

Mr Ofori-Atta also appealed to the board to provide an intermediate avenue for the resolution of a tax dispute as taxpayers and the revenue authority could explore the option before deciding to litigate in the law court.