The Ghana Revenue Authority has made it quite clear that it will detain and prosecute business owners who fail to provide consumers with Value Added Tax (VAT) invoices in the coming days.
The initiative, which complies with the Authority’s purpose to increase voluntary compliance, is also a part of a bigger effort to assist the Authority in reaching its revenue target of GH80.3 billion for the tax collection year in 2022.
The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) launched the effort after launching a special exercise to make sure that businesses and customers charged, issued, and properly reported VAT in compliance with the VAT Act, 2013 (Act 870).
In order to ensure increased compliance, GRA authorities are conducting surprise purchases, swoops around the nation, and shop inspections as part of the enforcement operation that started on September 1, 2022.
When explaining the purpose of the initiative to Citi Business News, Edward Appenteng Gyamerah, the head of the GRA’s Domestic Tax Revenue Division, also mentioned that the low level of revenue mobilization from VAT necessitated the necessity for this activity.
He remarked that Ghana’s VAT revenue was only about 20% of overall collections, in contrast to the norm of over 30% for countries like Nigeria, Togo, Cote d’Ivoire, and South Africa.
Additionally, in order to prevent retailers from undercutting the government, he advised customers to request and accept VAT invoices when they buy taxable items.
When customers decline to accept bills, some store owners sell their goods without include the invoice value. This is forbidden. Sections 58 and 59 of the VAT Act, which require firms to provide invoices to customers, are broken by this, the official claimed.
