The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has arrested more business owners in Accra for tax evasion. The latest of these companies arrested by the GRA are Dorley Company Limited, Aqua Scape, 69 Bridge Enterprise, Aqua Professionals and Rozy’s Collections.
They were arrested yesterday by the GRA Accra Central Area Enforcement Team at East Legon, yesterday.
The Head of Accra Central Enforcement Unit of the GRA, Assistant Commissioner Joseph Annan, said the arrests was part of the Authority’s special enforcement effort to ensure voluntary tax compliance by businesses and eligible taxpayers,
He told journalists that the GRA was using enforcement as a tool to leave no escape route for taxpayers in the country.
According to him, the commonest offences businesses indulged in were non-tax registration, selective issuance of tax invoices, and non-issuance of tax invoices.
Mr. Annan added that the Authority had a remedy to these offences by conducting a pre-empt assessment from the period the tax offenders were supposed to register, declare and make payment to the GRA.
He explained that the pre-emptive assessment was to serve as a basis for future payout, and the infractions would also come with a cost to the business owner.
“The law talks about going back to when they were supposed to have been registered. So if they were supposed to have registered like three years ago and they failed to do so. Then once we register them, we will go back to when they were supposed to have registered and we will assess them from that time to date,” he stressed.
Representatives of the errand companies were also picked up by the taskforce and it was expected that the CID would take them to their office to take their statements, after which they would be registered and assessed bt the pre-emptive unit.
The deputy Commissioner also informed the public about the rolling out of other programmes that would complement the special enforcement exercise, and this includes invoice invigilation and night market compliance checks.
He said the programmes were to make sure that taxpayers complied with the laws.
