The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has issued a stern warning to its officers and members of the public who are involved in or facilitate the evasion of taxes.
This follows the latest arrest by the authority of two Chinese nationals for falsifying VAT Invoices and evading payment of lawful taxes to the state.
Speaking to Citi Business News on the GRA’s efforts in achieving its 2019 domestic revenue target of GHC 45 Billion, Head of Revenue Tax Mobilization at the Authority, Henry Sam said any member of the GRA caught helping people evade taxes will be dealt with accordingly.
“We want to tell all tax payers that we are watching. Anybody who will be found culpable will be dealt with including our officers. Compliance is not limited to the taxpayer, it encompasses both the taxpayer and GRA tax officers.”
GRA arrests two Chinese nationals over tax evasion
Two months after members of the management of Sinic Enterprise, a Chinese owned footwear company were arrested for tax evasion, two managers of another company, this time around Dada Foods Company Limited, producers of artificial fruit juices such as 7 Star, Mango Fruit Drink, New Star, Freezy Drink among others, have also been apprehended.
The recent arrest follows a tip-off from the counter Intelligence unit under the office of the Senior Minister Yaw Osafo Maafo. The arrested persons are Guo Wang Zhong, the Managing Director of Dada Foods, which is located at Kpone, and You Qihg Yan, the Production Manager of the company.
According to the Head of Revenue Tax Mobilization, Henry Bradford Sam, the two gentlemen will be made to face the full rigors of the law.
“If you look at what they are doing you realize that when the company is reporting on VAT at the end of the month, they use duplicate copies with lower values, thereby suppressing sales, evading payment of taxes and making false and misleading statements.”
A tour of the production facility of the company showed about 50 Ghanaian workers and a few Chinese nationals producing and packing the different brands under the company into thousands of boxes.
Dada foods according to the GRA officials has been around since 2012.
Henry Sam went on to state that 71 vat invoice booklets and 15 waybills, have been taken from the company to assist in a comprehensive audit of the company.
“We are therefore going to reassess the company, by retrieving all the invoices that have been given to them and recheck the various amounts and subject them to an audit. Any tax shortfalls will attract one hundred percent penalty pursuant to Section 74 and 81 of the Revenue Administration Act, 2016 (ACT 915)”
The evasion of tax by the Dada Foods and others which are yet to be apprehended by the GRA comes on the back of the GRA’s determination to meet its 2019 revenue target of 45.5 billion Cedis after missing its 2018 target by negative 5.5 percent.
Mr. Bradford Sam further revealed that the GRA was committed to taking the needed steps to rid the system of defaulting companies and help the authority to achieve its set target.
More punitive action needed to deter tax evaders
For tax expert Francis Timore Boi, the lack of punitive action is not helping to curb the problem of tax evasion.
“As you are aware we have consistently missed our revenue targets, so if you see a company that’s capable of paying, but is evading taxes, then we have to worry. Apart from equipping the GRA to do its job, we need to look at our laws as the punishment for tax evasion are not punitive enough at the moment.”