Some shops understate taxes up to 1700% – GRA

The Commissioner-General of the Ghana Revenue Authority, Rev. Amishaddai Owusu Amoah, has disclosed that during an invigilation exercise by the Authority, it was found that some entities understate taxes and earnings by 1700%. According to him, the results from the monitoring of about 53 entities showed that shops were filing below their due taxes. He noted that a shop invigilation exercise was done by sending people as mystery shoppers of stationing officials in shops to check invoices as customers trooped in. The comments came on the back of the recent activities by the Authority to ensure that entities complied with the newly introduced Electronic VAT system. Speaking to GhanaWeb on the sidelines of the Ghana Economic Forum on October 25, 2022, he said “Out of the results we had when you look at the filing, what the entity has filed for June, July, and August and you compare what we found in September the difference is more than 100 % and some of them go as high as 1700%. “There was somebody who was filing GH¢75000 per month but when we went to the shop in September it was over 3 million and there was one who was filing GH¢19000 and GH¢20000 for the 3 months and when we went to the shop it was GH¢330,000 so it means that these are revenues that are being understated and what you need to understand is that they are selling to all of us and they are still selling. Once you buy, you have paid the tax so to say but when he files less than that,” he lamented. He however stated that persons who are found to be flouting the laws will be made to pay the taxes due. "Basically, there will be two sanctions. We use our findings to tell you that we estimate that your filings are inaccurate. So, we calculate and charge you. We will speak to them one on one if you are able to explain that maybe something was amiss then we take a look at it. But where we find out that you have not done the right thing, we will make sure that you pay," he said. Watch the latest episode of BizTech below: SSD/FNOQ

The Commissioner-General of the Ghana Revenue Authority, Rev. Amishaddai Owusu Amoah, has disclosed that during an invigilation exercise by the Authority, it was found that some entities understate taxes and earnings by 1700%. According to him, the results from the monitoring of about 53 entities showed that shops were filing below their due taxes. He noted that a shop invigilation exercise was done by sending people as mystery shoppers of stationing officials in shops to check invoices as customers trooped in. The comments came on the back of the recent activities by the Authority to ensure that entities complied with the newly introduced Electronic VAT system. Speaking to GhanaWeb on the sidelines of the Ghana Economic Forum on October 25, 2022, he said “Out of the results we had when you look at the filing, what the entity has filed for June, July, and August and you compare what we found in September the difference is more than 100 % and some of them go as high as 1700%. “There was somebody who was filing GH¢75000 per month but when we went to the shop in September it was over 3 million and there was one who was filing GH¢19000 and GH¢20000 for the 3 months and when we went to the shop it was GH¢330,000 so it means that these are revenues that are being understated and what you need to understand is that they are selling to all of us and they are still selling. Once you buy, you have paid the tax so to say but when he files less than that,” he lamented. He however stated that persons who are found to be flouting the laws will be made to pay the taxes due. "Basically, there will be two sanctions. We use our findings to tell you that we estimate that your filings are inaccurate. So, we calculate and charge you. We will speak to them one on one if you are able to explain that maybe something was amiss then we take a look at it. But where we find out that you have not done the right thing, we will make sure that you pay," he said. Watch the latest episode of BizTech below: SSD/FNOQ