The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta has reiterated the government’s resolve to improve the country’s tax-collection regime and thereby increase revenue by intensifying tax compliance and plugging current revenue leakages.
The Finance Minister indicated that the government’s internal investigations revealed that there are “inbound leakages on goods arriving in the country” and this is affecting the revenue performance of the country.
Explaining the measures government plans to put in place to check the leakages, the Minister stated in his mid-year budget review that tax evaders and corrupt officials will be prosecuted in accordance with the laws of the country, adding that Ghanaians should expect institutional reforms at the Ghana Revenue Authority [GRA].
“As part of efforts to improve revenue performance, we will intensify tax compliance and plug existing revenue leakages. Investigations we have undertaken shows inbound leakages on goods arriving in the country.”
“These initiatives will include prosecutions of tax evaders and corrupt tax officials, a special VAT Attack force to ensure enforcement and deepen VAT penetration from the current low levels of 11 percent, and institutional reforms at GRA,” said the Minister.
The Minister also explained that the government has also initiated new measures to improve tax compliance.
According to him, the implementation of the common platform for communications traffic monitoring, mobile money monitoring and management of fraud related cases are also part of the tax compliance measures the government has put in place.
He explained that the implementation of the Common Platform would aid the government’s efforts to check tax evasion by the telecom companies.
“The Common Platform will provide government with an accurate and comprehensive view of telecom revenues in order to verify tax compliance and to ensure the comprehensive billing and collection of all telecom-related taxes, levies, and regulatory fees.”
Experts to probe capital-intensive sectors
The Minister further explained that some experts have been contracted by Government to investigate some capital-intensive sectors such as mining, oil and gas, and telecommunications services.
“Experts have been contracted to work alongside GRA staff to conduct forensic audits of companies in priority sectors and undertake audits of multinational enterprises to re-characterize transactions that are a result of transfer pricing activities for the appropriate taxes to be levied.”
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By: Jude Mensa Duncan/citinewsroom.com/ghana
