IRS Volta exceeded 2009 revenue target

Ho, Feb. 24, GNA - The Volta Region branch of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) exceeded its 2009 revenue target of 8,900,298.73 Ghana Cedis by 208,437.75 Ghana Cedis.

Actual tax collected was 9,108,536.48 Ghana cedis representing 21.04 per cent over the 2008 figure of 7,518,230.42 Ghana Cedis, Mr. Kwasi Oppong-Damoah, the Volta Regional Director of the Service, told the GNA in an interview.

He said the region collected 4,236,073.68 Ghana cedis as company tax, 2,222,535.94 Ghana cedis as self employed tax, 1,538,489.08 Ghana Cedis as Pay As You Earn (PAYE) and 1,111,437.78 Ghana Cedis as miscellaneous tax. He said 1,882,742.31 Ghana cedis was collected in the first quarter of the year under review, 2,416,894.22 Ghana cedis for the second quarter, 2,304,934,99 Ghana cedis for the third quarter and the fourth quarter 2,461,994.80 Ghana Cedis.

He said 300,654 Ghana cedis were collected as Vehicle Income Tax and 62,696 Ghana Cedis as Tax stamp.

Mr. Oppong-Damoah said but for the Diamond Cement Company in Aflao, the region was mainly agrarian with no big companies making it "a very difficult region in terms of tax collection". He said voluntary tax compliance was very low and needed a lot of hard work from the staff adding "though it was a very difficult year we were able to sail through".

Mr. Oppong-Damoah said some income tax payers in the region were hostile to staff on the field and said "staffs are only performing their statutory duties so the public must bear with us". He appealed to the public to pay their taxes promptly on receipt of their tax assessments.

Mr. Oppong-Damoah said management was doing its best in the face of its financial constraints to solve the logistics problems facing the Service. 24 Feb. 10