The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) will meet its revenue tax target of GH¢45billion for the year, Mr Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah, acting Commissioner-General, has assured.
He said his optimism stemmed from the fact that, though the GRA had managed to rake in GH¢32 billion in the first three-quarters, it most often optimised its tax collection revenue in the last quarter of the year, because of the yuletide.
Mr Owusu-Amoah said this at a media briefing in Accra yesterday moments before a team of tax compliance task force went after targeted tax defaulters to enforce compliance with their tax payments
He said the exercise, which kick-started some few weeks ago to ensure task compliance would be sustained until about between GH¢3billion to GH¢5billion standing in their books as outstanding debts have been dealt with, adding that the task force would be on the offensive to retrieve all monies owed by incalcitrant defaulters.
Mr Owusu-Amoah said, the GRA had put in measures to make tax compliance more voluntary, so that many tax payers would become more affable to honour their tax obligations.
He said some of the challenges affecting tax collection currently were the falsifying of VAT invoices to suppress the right taxes to be paid, and in most cases, not charging VAT on products labeled to attract the tax, thereby depriving the state of needed tax revenue.
Mr Owusu-Amoah said already four traders have been found culpable of evading tax through either evading tax through forgery or non-compliance, adding that they would soon be put before court.
He cautioned both employers and employees found to have engaged in tax evasion that, they would not escape the full rigours of the law, since the law would not countenance any excuse based on ignorance, adding “the bank accounts of most tax defaulters have been frozen through court processes.”
Mr Owusu-Amoah asked tax payers to comply and work harmoniously with GRA to enable the country rake in the needed revenue for development.
BY LAWRENCE MARKWEI
