Mr. Edward Gyambrah
Head of the Domestic Tax Revenue Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Edward Gyambrah has warned businesses issuing fake Valued Added Tax (VAT) invoices to consumers to desist from the illegal act or face sanctions.
Speaking to the media, he said GRA will sanction registered businesses who fail to issue the required invoices to customers as the Authority makes efforts to meet its revenue collection target of Gh₵ 80.3 billion for 2022.
He said “We are cautioning all registered businesses dealing with customers to be transparent and not evade taxes. You are supposed to issue VAT invoices to customers, don’t be asking whether they need receipt or not because that is criminal. We have started with the invigilation and we will continue across the country”.
According to the Authority, the exercise forms part of effort to ensure compliance to help generate revenue for the country.
He indicated that the Authority will embark on various mystery shopping operations to apprehend perpetrators and to also deter others from engaging in such acts.
“We will embark on various mystery shopping where we would have some of our officers in some of the shops and businesses to buy goods from them. While VAT collections in Nigeria, Togo, Cote d’Ivoire, South Africa, among others, averaged above 30 percent of their total revenue, Ghana’s VAT revenue was around 20 percent of its total collections,” he added.
He further said that, to help monitor the activities of registered businesses, VAT invoices will be automated from October 2022 to generate more revenue for the state.
“From October 2022, we are looking forward to start automating some VAT invoices to fast track processes”, he hinted.
Ebenezer K. Amponsah