Tax Evasion, failure to issue VAT invoices: GRA drags 48 businesses to court
They are therefore undergoing prosecution at the Tax Court for acting in contravention of Section 80 of the Revenue Administration Act, 2016(Act 915).
The Ghana Revenue Authority has dragged about 48 businesses to court for offenses including Tax Evasion and failure to issue VAT invoices on the purchases of their goods and services.
They are therefore undergoing prosecution at the Tax Court for acting in contravention of Section 80 of the Revenue Administration Act, 2016(Act 915).
This was disclosed by the Commissioner General of the GRA, Rev. AmishaddaiOwusu-Amoah on Friday, October 7 at a meeting with Editors of Media Organisations in Accra.
Further to this, he noted that this move by his outfit is only one of the many strategies adopted to promote tax compliance.
He also disclosed that the GRA had collected GH¢51.6 billion as against a target of GH¢52 billion at the end of September this year.
“We fell short of the target by GH¢466 million. The performance represents a nominal growth rate of 29.0 percent over the same period compared to last year’s collection of 26 percent. “
On the Tax policy initiative, Rev Amishaddai indicated that the Taxpayer Portal, Electronic VAT invoicing, Electronic Auction, and Electronic Tax Clearance Certificate are being implemented to boost revenue.
He said that the E-VAT invoicing, which is to deal with invoice cloning, etc will be implemented in phases starting from October 1 to help the Authority monitor the issuance of invoices by taxpayers.
“The E-VAT invoicing implementation will be done in phases starting October 1, 2022, and this will help the GRA to monitor the issuance of invoices by taxpayers by certifying all invoices issued for accounting and filing of VAT returns.”
The Taxpayer portal is an online self-service system which is to allow taxpayers to file their returns, make payments, and access tax-related services.
Additionally, the GRA Boss mentioned that a new Excise Tax Stamp Authenticator has been introduced and is soon to be used for its purposes and that from October 15, the Electronic Auction platform will be piloted.
The GRA has further to the above, instituted an Informant Award Scheme to award persons and organizations who offer confidential information and added that an informant was recently paid GH¢130,000 for helping in this regard.
He thus encouraged all persons and organizations who have such information to call the GRA.
