Rev. Dr. Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah (4th from right) with some stakeholders
The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has assured customers of its readiness to continuously provide quality service to improve revenue mobilisation for sustainable economic growth.
Speaking at its maiden edition of the Customer Experience Conference yesterday in Accra, he said the country’s economic prosperity hinges on the efficiency of GRA, hence the need for it to adopt ways of collecting taxes in a manner that suits the Authority and tax payers.
“As a revenue Authority that is supposed to collect tax of GH¢126 billion for 2024, we are committed to ensuring that we can collect it in the best way with a customer service delivery approach,” he said.
He added that the maiden edition of the conference is aimed at examining successful approaches and best practices in promoting voluntary tax compliance from other tax jurisdictions.
He said the conference is also expected to facilitate knowledge sharing, consultation and networking among tax professionals, policy makers, researchers and international organisations in the area of service delivery.
The MD also advised the staff to remain professional and adopt a customer-centred approach in dealing with tax payers.
He believes the leveraging on technology to simplify the processes and procedures using its social media handles, websites, among others, will go a long way to improve the relationship between the GRA and tax payers.
Director of Revenue, Policy Division of GRA, George Winful, representing the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori Atta, said given the economic challenges that the country faced recently, it was imperative it explores more effective and innovative ways for domestic resource mobilisation.
He said the conference will, therefore, position GRA favourably among its peers in the quest to become a world class tax Authority while applauding GRA for meeting its targets in the last four years.
Mr. Winful, however, urged the staff not to be complacent but to continue with the trajectory as the country aims to grow the tax revenue in the medium term from 14% percent of GDP to 20% by 2027.
He, also, expressed the Ministry’s commitment to support GRA to achieve its mandate as the Authority aligns it strategic plan to the country’s medium term revenue strategy rolled out in 2023
He said the Ministry of Finance recognises its role in pursuit of this vision and will therefore continue to support the creation of systems that promote efficiency, transparency in tax administration in Ghana.
Head of Customer Experience Unit, GRA, Dr. Birago Antwi Adjei, in a presentation, said the unit which was established with its objective to be customer-centric, demystify taxation and service delivery is poised to deliver on its mandate in fulfilling the needs of its customers.
She said as a result of the initiatives to improve customer service delivery, her outfit supported by other departments’ resolved about 95% cases reported by customers.
The conference held under theme, “Building a Growth-Friendly Tax Environment” brought together Board members of GRA, tax experts among others.
Also present was the British High Commissioner to Ghana, Harriet Thompson a tax consultant, Patrick Mukilbi, representatives from AGI, Ghana Medical Association, Foreign Common Wealth Development office Ghana Hotels Association among several others.
By Ebenezer K. Amponsah