The managers of two printing companies in Accra have been arrested by the Special Revenue Mobilization Unit of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) for possessing fake tax clearance certificates.
The Managers are the administrators for the Skyco Printing Press and Yamens Printing and Packaging located in Adabraka and Asylum Down respectively.
They were Eric Yeboah, the Manager for Skyco Printing Press and Eugene Niabey the Managing Director for Yamens Printing and Packaging.
The team, led by the Director of the Task force and Chief Revenue Officer with the GRA, Theophilus Gaskin, disclosed that the companies had used the fake certificates to secure contracts involving large corporate organizations.
Some of the discrepancies identified on the certificates included altered serial numbers and validity periods for the filing of the next tax returns.
“When such issues arise, under our laws, you have committed an offence which is against the paragraph 58 of the Income Tax Act 2015, Act 896 which states that a person commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine of not less than 100 penalty units and not more than 120 penalty units or to a term of imprisonment of not less than six months and not more than two years or both the fine and imprisonment,” he explained.
GRA task force closes down GUTA members’ shops
The special revenue mobilization task force’s operations also took the team to the Tip-Toe lane near the Kwame Nkrumah Circle in Accra.
About 44 mobile phone shops were closed down for failing to file their VAT returns.
Some of the shop owners who were members of GUTA vowed to register their displeasure at the development citing the lack of adequate time to meet with the GRA on the matter.
GRA retrieves over 4 million cedis in rent income
Meanwhile the unit has also revealed that a recent exercise it launched on some landlords within the nation’s capital has yielded positive results.
Theophilus Gaskin told Citi Business News, “We want to send out a word of caution to all landlords and ladies that they must voluntarily come out and declare their rent income returns. So far the task force has been able to collected 4.279 million cedis within a period of seven weeks”.
He has however indicated that similar activities will be embarked on across the country as the Authority is committed to meeting its revenue target for this year.
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By: Pius Amihere Eduku/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana
