The Excise Unit of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has raided beverage shops in the central business district of Accra.
Products seized from the shops did not have Excise Tax stamps affixed on them in violation of Ghana’s tax law.
The exercise started at Korle Wonko through to Zongo Lane and ended at the Okaishie Market.
Several shops that deal in carbonated soft drinks, bear, wine, cigarette, among others, were visited by the GRA Team.
Items seized from Kate Laryea Store and Blue Scene Enterprise respectively included 41 packs of special red grape drink, 544 packs of lucozade energy drink, DR. Malt, among other products belonging to renowned brands like Coca-Cola, Accra Brewery, Guinness Ghana Limited.
The officials discovered that some shop owners were issuing their own invoices instead of the Value Added Tax (VAT) invoices, while others did not have corresponding weighing bill that confirms products loaded onto the trucks.
Head of the Excise Tax Stamp Compliance Unit at GRA, Kwabena Apau A. Anto, told journalists during the exercise on Tuesday that the Authority would make sure that shop owners issue VAT invoices to cover their daily sales.
He said, “We also found out that some of the imported products did not have the tax stamps affixed to them. The authority will take several actions based on the information gathered from the exercise to enforce the compliance with the tax stamps policy. We shall visit the companies involved tomorrow and find out why the products are not affixed with the stamps.
“We shall find out from the shop owners who are their suppliers are as far as imported products are concerned,” he added.
Mr. Apau cautioned dealers of the affected products in other big markets to comply with the country’s laws since GRA would extend the monitoring exercise.
“If you know you don’t have stamps on your products please don’t put them on sale,” he said.
By Melvin Tarlue & Mohammed Brimah