GRA warns against tax understatement

The Head of the Medium Tax Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) in the Volta Region, Mr Benedictus Danu, has warned entrepreneurs that sanctions exist for understatements regarding their tax obligations.

Speaking at a media sensitisation workshop in Ho under the auspices of the Customs Division of the GRA, Mr Danu said under the tax regime in the country, the onus was on some category of tax payers to self-assess their incomes and fill in tax estimates.

He expressed regret that the tendency among some tax payers is to come up with “very low assessments”.

Mr Danu said the system of self-assessment was very flexible, allowing for reviews by the companies as many times as necessary within the tax year.

He said such reviews must be close to 85 per cent of the figures being reviewed, while there was a 30 per cent penalty on the difference between the underestimated figures and the actual.

Mr Danu said it was important that tax payers reflected on the consequences of understating their obligations.

He said the GRA had a rigid pre and post filing monitoring and evaluation system.

Mr Danu said the self-assessment regime allowed for taxpayers to pay their taxes quarterly.