A PricewaterhouseCoopers forum has called for the establishment of a separate social security regime for short-term expatriates describing the current system as “not favourable” to the workers.

Although the Pensions Act requires that short-term expatriates also contribute to the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), the same law requires that to be eligible for benefits in times of death or invalidity, they should have contributed at least 12 months out of the past 36 months.

Speaking at the PwC Expatriate Mobility forum last Tuesday, a director of the firm, Francis Adisiani, said the social security regime is particularly unfavourable to expatriate who may be in the country for a rather short assignment and may not make SSNIT contributions up to 12 months.

He also stated that while the Pension Act stipulated that expatriates claim their benefits from SSNIT upon completion of their assignment in the country, the process to access the benefits is usually cumbersome making most expats leave the country without accessing the benefits,

The cumbersome process among others, he said, has created a form of apathy towards the entire social security regime among the expatriate community.

“The broader problem is the fact that some expatriates do not see the reason why they should contribute to social security,” he said.

Mr. Adisiani stated that in place of the current regime, some expatriates have proposed that the establishment of an arrangement between SSNIT and their respective home social security institutions, just like we have in double tax agreements.

Such an agreement, they explain, would exempt an expat from paying social security in Ghana while they pay in their respective countries.

Also, since social security and tax matters are usually interwoven, Mr. Adisiani added: “there is the need for one-stop shop where an expatriate is able to process his tax clearance and his social security issues without having to go through the bureaucracies of two different institutions.

SSNIT’s General Manager of Benefits Division, Leslie Arde-Acquah, speaking at the forum, hinted that they would have to reconsider the current social security regime for expatriates.

“In terms of the short-term assignees, I don’t think the law took provision of them. Because in times of death, invalidity, the law requires that that you should have contributed at least 12 months out of the last 36 months in order to be eligible to claim benefits. This is where we need to work with the regulator to take care of the needs of short-term expatriates,” he said.

Expatriate mobility

The maiden PwC forum on expatriate mobility which was on the theme, Expat Mobility – playing a vital role in national development, highlighted issues impacting the three major stakeholders of global mobility with special emphasis on trends in Africa in general with particular focus on Ghana.

The stakeholders identified are the regulators within the expatriate mobility space, employers, and employees/assignees.

According to Mr. Adisiani, expatriate mobility to Ghana, can be seen as a panacea for national development in terms of improvement in tax revenue, technology and knowledge transfer as well as development of industries.

He identified some challenges hindering the work of expatriates as including the lack of recognition of globally accepted ways of treating expatriates’ under various company policies such as tax equalisation and tax protection schemes, bureaucratic procedures in obtaining Tax Identification Numbers (TIN), manual procedures for tax filings, delays in obtaining Tax Clearance Certificates (TCCs), among others.