The Acting Commissioner-General of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Reverend Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah, says his outfit has projected to collect revenue amounting to GH¢60 billion for the 2021 fiscal year.
The revenue target constitutes a 32.3% increase over the 2020 actual collection of GH¢45,338.69.
Meanwhile, the Authority initially budgeted to collect a total tax revenue of GH¢47,253.95 million for the 2020 fiscal year, which represents a 7.6% growth over the actual tax revenue collections of GH¢43,907.12 million for the 2019 fiscal year, but as a result of the impact of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the budget was revised to GH¢42,769.50 million.
The 2020 revenue collection, hence, represents 2.6% negative growth over the actual revenue collection of GH¢43,907.12 million in 2019, due to the pandemic that affected businesses.
The Ag Commissioner-General, at a press soiree held on Friday, January 22, 2021, indicated that the Authority was then tasked to collect a revised tax revenue target of GH¢42,769.50, but “as at December 2020, we had collected GH¢45,338.69 million, exceeding the budget by GH¢2,569.19 million, thus, with a positive deviation of 6.0%.”
The breakdown of revenue collected are Direct Taxes GH¢22,212.66, Indirect Taxes, GH¢10,583.37 and Customs, GH¢12,583.37.
He explained that the Authority was able to exceed the revised target because of increased and targeted compliance exercises, Integrated Tax Application and Preparation System (ITaPS) & Ghana.Gov and Integrated Customs Management Systems (ICUMS).
Other programmes contributing to this are Increased Operations in the Mining, Financial & Telecommunication Sectors, enforcement exercise and Corporate Social Responsibility.
With these positive interventions, he was certain that although “this task (GH¢60 billion revenue target), I must admit, appears quite daunting at first sight, but this will not deter us as an organisation. With hard work, right attitude and innovative measures, we can achieve the target.”
Rev Owusu-Amoah further outlined more strategies such as the introduction of new excise tax stamps, synchronisation of Tax Identification Number (TIN) with the Ghana Card, taxing of players in the e-commerce market, restructuring of Domestic Tax Revenue Division, and deployment of Information Technology tools.
The rest are prospects from African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), tax education, prosecution of tax defaulters, the establishment of High Net Worth Unit for individuals such as musicians, actors and actresses, pastors, international footballers etc., and the engagement of data analytics who will analyse and compare data from other institutions to uncover non-compliant taxpayers.
The icing on the cake is the Authority’s data scientists and analytics will be able to track whether right taxes are being paid by institutions and individuals. The Ag Commission-General explained that it would correct the disparities in the system, where the same company would present different data to government institutions.
He further elaborated that with the aggressive posture of the Authority to seal tax loopholes, one cannot afford to drive a vehicle worth thousands of cedis, or be living luxurious lifestyle and yet under-declare his or her tax. The Ag Commission-General further added that the GRA would leave no stone unturned, and such, it was working closely with the local assemblies to vigorously pursue landlords for their rent tax.
The post GRA sets ambitious GH¢60bn revenue target for 2021 appeared first on The Chronicle Online.
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