GRA confident of exceeding revenue target amidst COVID-19
Adnan Adams Mohammed
The Ghana Revenue Authority has declared their preparedness
and making maximum efforts through effectiveness and efficiency to exceed the
revised tax revenue target set by the finance minister in the mid-year budget.
The government revised down the tax revenue target from
GHC47.2 billion to GHC42.7 billion using the Coronavirus pandemic as an excuse.
GRA's half year performance missed the target by a little
over a billion Ghana cedis as it recorded GHC19.9 billion against the target of
GHC21 billion. This was when the coronavirus pandemic was ravaging all sectors
of the economy at its peak, during the second quarter from March to June.
"We are working
hard to achieve the target or better exceed it through the implementation of
policies", Rev. Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah, Commissioner General of GRA noted
at a media interaction event organised by PRINPAG with support from GRA.
The mining sector (which saw gold price appreciating
continuously over the last months), the telecommunications sector(through the
communication service) and the financial sector contributed mostly to the half
year performance of tax revenues collected.
However, the excise duties,
mostly on consumables such as soft drinks, water, alcohol and others,
Pay As You Earn (PAYE) and income tax of SMEs underperformed during the half
year.
Speaking on behalf of the PRINPAG at the event, Edwin Arthur
lauded the willingness of the GRA to accept to meet and interact with media to
help broaden and update one of the society's watchdog players.
He called on the media to support the intention of PRINPAG
to launch a campaign against tax evaders in the country which is denying the
state of needed revenues to provide better and equitable socioeconomic
infrastructure to benefit all classes of the citizens and foreigners in the
country.
In solving the challenges of under-clearing and
under-invoicing of some tax payers and also to address the complaints of
taxpayers, the Authority has strengthened and increase the capacity of its Tax
Audit and Quality Assurance Department to be able to do double checking of
accounts of companies so they detect any deliberate or oversight malpractices
to maximize tax collections. It will also be efficient in addressing clients’ complaints
to ensure hassle free tax system for all.
The Authority has also rolled out the Integrated Tax
Application Processing System (ITAPS), which an online tax payment system to
help make tax filing easy and convenient to tax payers. Already, the Personal
Income Tax was automated which currently has about 6000 users with over 5000
users filing their taxes through the system.
With these, the management of GRA believes it will help them
to maximize tax collections and meet or exceed their target.
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