GRA holds tax clinics for Tema

The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) is holding tax clinics over five days for the public in Tema with a call on individuals and organisations to honour their tax obligations.

The tax clinics, which formed part of the GRA's nationwide Tax and Governnance Week, is on the theme: "File your tax returns, pay your taxes, Ghana beyond aid".

Officials of the Domestic Tax Division and the Customs Division of the GRA educated the public on the various taxes, filing of tax returns, tax reliefs, the Paperless port clearance system, and vehicle clearing as well as importation and exportation processes and tax stamps.

Mrs Grace Ampofowaa Kome, Assistant Commissioner in-charge of the Tema Small Taxpayer Office, said for government to achieve a Ghana Beyond Aid, citizens must fulfil their civic responsibility of paying their tax religiously to enable the GRA to raise enough resources for the development of the country.

Mrs Kome indicated that apart from paying taxes, citizens were also entitled to some tax reliefs including marriage, child education, disability and aged.

She encouraged business operators to keep proper records of their operations to help in proper filing of returns as well as to prevent discrepancies.

She further asked them to file their tax returns on the acceptable dates to avoid attracting penalties for late submission explaining that if a company failed to file the tax for its employees on or before on the 15th day of the next month, it would pay penalties.

She added that the penalty is calculated by 500 multiplied by the number of days defaulted and therefore encouraged them to use the GRA's newly launched Integrated Tax Application and Payment System (iTaps) for easy payment at their convenience.

Mrs Eugenia Manful, Assistant Commissioner in-charge of Tema Medium Taxpayer Office, on her part, said the tax clinics were successful as clients drove in at their stand at the Community 11 Shell premises to interact with officials.

Mrs Manful called on the public to take advantage of the clinics to have their tax concerns addressed as well as to register for their Tax Identification Number (TIN).

Mr Simon Kwesi Kumah, Assistant Revenue Officer of the Customs Division, taking participants through the Paperless Clearance System, indicated that Customs would intensify its post-clearance audit channel to ensure that goods which were cleared under the green category were monitored and checked after the clearance process.

Mr Kumah explained that goods which were categorized as green did not undergo scanning or physical examinations as they were deemed to be clean.