Complaints of over-taxing to be addressed – GRA assures
Adnan Adams Mohammed
Ghana Revenue Authority has strengthened and increased the
capacity of its Tax Audit and Quality Assurance Department to be able to do
double-checking of accounts of companies and addressing complaints of small
business owners of over-taxing against local tax auditors.
This is helpful in solving the persistent challenges of
under-clearing and under-invoicing of some taxpayers and also to address the
complaints of taxpayers.
The Authority says it will also help to detect on time any
deliberate or oversight malpractices of companies to maximize tax collections.
It will also be efficient in addressing clients’ complaints to ensure
hassle-free tax system for all.
“With these, we believe it will help us to maximize tax
collections to meet or exceed our target” Rev. Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah,
Commissioner General of GRA noted at a media interaction event organised by
PRINPAG with support from GRA. He retorted that, "We are working hard to
achieve the target or better exceed it through the implementation of policies."
The Authority at the press event 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.
According figures from GRA, 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.
Of this, 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.
The tax authority also indicated that the Integrated Tax
Application Process System (ITAPS) introduced last year has already recorded
about 6000 users with over 5000 users filing their taxes through the system.
First phase of the project targeted the Personal Income Tax
category, with the second phase to be launched soon which will cover local
companies and multinationals. The online tax payment system was introduced to
help make tax filing easy and convenient to tax payers and also reduce the cost
of compliance to the taxpayer.
The app is an e-services platform that will enable taxpayers
to prepare, apply and receive GRA services online. With this, both individuals
and companies will be able to file their annual tax returns at their own
convenience. The app also allows, electronically, access to TAX Clearance
Certificate (e-TCC) as well as Withholding Tax Credit Certificate (e-Tax
Credit) and VAT Withholding Tax Credit Certificate (e-VAT Credit)
“ITAPS is a compliance tool and to that extent, it would
improve on our revenue”, the Commissioner-General noted.
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