GRA locks up two companies for tax default

The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) Taskforce has shut down two companies for defaulting in their taxes payments to the tune of GH¢19.75 million.

The companies are P2W Technologies, a water waste treatment company, which failed to pay the Authority an amount of GHc14.9 million as tax liability for Value Added (VAT) Tax and Pay As You Earn (PAYE) tax for five years and Pasico Ghana, dealers in building materials, which owned the Authority an amount of GHC 4.85 million for not paying PAYE and VAT tax for six years.

The Ghana Industrial Holding Company paid a cheque of GHC 1.1 million, out of the GHC 182 million the company owned the Authority for two years, while Cocoa Marketing Company promised to pay the GHC 6.8 million tax revenue due the Authority for the year 2018.

Mr Michael Sefa, the Head of Debt Management, Compliance and Enforcement Unit of GRA made this known in an interview with the Ghana News Agency after a special exercise dubbed: "VAT Distress Action".

The exercise saw unannounced visits to the companies to collect outstanding debts from recalcitrant customers of the Authority.

He said the exercise was undertaken after a failed discussions and negotiations with the companies to pay their outstanding taxes to the Authority.

Mr Sefa said the two locked-up companies are required to visit the Authority's head office and settle their debts to avoid further actions, including auctioning of the company's facilities.

Mr Sefa said the exercise was to enforce tax compliance and improve the Authority's revenue generation.

The exercise, however, forms part of GRA's comprehensive national tax campaign to encourage more Ghanaians to honour their tax obligations to enable the government to meet its domestic revenue targets, increase social intervention policies and accelerate development across the country.

Mr Sefa expressed concern about tax infractions by companies, especially that of VAT and PAYE, which prevented the country from getting the needed revenue for development projects, and urged companies, who had not paid their tax to do so to avoid any embarrassing situation.

The Authority, in September, 2019, launched a taskforce dubbed: “Operation Collect, Name and Shame,” aimed at collecting taxes that were overdue and the names of recalcitrant businesses were published in the media and asked to settle their debts.