The Commissioner-General of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Mr. Emmanuel Kofi Nti, has indicated that out of the total amount of GH¢6,860,899 in Corporate and Income Tax for 2015 year of assessment, GH¢4.1 million has been paid, relating to the transactions of 10 Medium Tax Offices (MTOs)
Mr. Nti disclosed that an outstanding balance of about GH¢2.1 million, relating to 6 different MTOs is yet to be recovered by the authority.
In his submission at the sitting of the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament, Mr. Nti further explained that 4 of the MTOs have fully recovered the amounts involved.
On the outstanding debt recoverable by the authority, the Commissioner-General added that demand notices with penalties have been sent to debtors.
On stringent measures to retrieve the unpaid taxes, Mr. Nti indicated that the payment has been escalated to the legal department at the head office for further action.
Section 135 (2) of the Internal Revenue Act 2000 (Act 592) states that “tax that has not been paid when it is due and payable may be sued for and recovered in any court by the Commissioner-General”.
The 2016 Auditor-General’s Report
According to the 2016 Auditor-General’s report on outstanding income and corporate taxes under Domestic Tax Revenue Offices, review of 1,555 selected tax files from 10 Domestic Tax Revenue Offices in the Greater Accra Region showed that 549 companies, business entities and individuals owed amounts of GH¢6,806,899 and US$1,506 in corporate and income taxes for the 2015 year of assessment.
The Auditor-General recommended that management must increase it’s enforcement role to collect all the outstanding tax revenues.
Source: GhanaJustice/S.Ayisi
