The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has embarked on a distress action against eight companies in the Ashanti Region who are defaulting in tax returns to the tune of GHS11, 071,131.56.
Out of the eight, four of them which are rendering services to mining companies in the region and failed to return their tax are owing the GRA GHS10 million.
The eight are part of 14 companies in the country indebted to the GRA to a total of GHS63, 091,370.17.
All the defaulting companies have been served with notices of levying of distress in pursuance to Section 53 of the Revenue Administration Act, Act 915 of 2016.
So far, a Special Revenue Mobilisation Taskforce visited two tax-defaulting companies – Naachia Estates Limited at Esereso in the Bosomtwe district and A. Kannin Limited in Kumasi on Thursday, 22 June, 2017.
The Coordinator of the Taskforce Operations at the GRA, Henry Brandford Sam, said the exercise which began in Accra has been intensified for tax compliance and debt recovery throughout the country.
He called on other defaulting companies to settle their debts voluntarily without waiting for the taskforce to chase them for the payments.
“It is not going to be a nine-day wonder. We are going to intensify the distress order and to ensure that every penny owed as taxes is accounted for. Most of the managers of these companies [we visited] were not available, but the entities have properties. So these properties have been [touched]. So we expect the mangers to be responsible to approach the GRA officers to make good their indebtedness without being forced to do so. If we are unable to get the payment done with regards to these taxes within 14 days, then the law requires that we have to auction their properties to defray the outstanding debt,” he stated.
“Normally, we don’t want to crack the whip in that fashion where you have to close down the business. We wish that businesses will voluntarily file their tax returns and make payments…and keep reliable records to be able to account for the taxes on time.”
Source: Ghana/AccraFM.com
