According to the Ghana Revenue Authority, some businesses are refusing to follow its new instruction to use the Electronic VAT system since doing so would make them vulnerable.
According to Joseph Annan, the Ghana Revenue Authorities’s Accra Area Enforcement Manager, the E-VAT system enables the authority to closely track the sales of these businesses.
However, the stores do not wish to follow the rules in order to avoid paying taxes or paying too little.
“It exposes them because what you sell will definitely hit our system so that you will be doing your thing in the shop, but we can be monitored electronically. And as you know, many of them don’t declare all their sales so the electronic VAT system will help us get the right taxes from them,” he told myjoyonline.com when his team closed down China Mall on October 10, 2022.
The Electronic VAT system was launched on October 1, 2022, by the Ghana Revenue Authority as a means to ensure tax compliance and block revenue loopholes.
However, the GRA has noted that some shops do not want to comply with the new development even after a week of its launch.
“We shall not rest until the right thing is done, because as I always say, we don’t feel comfortable going around closing shops and doing all these operations. But the citizens have paid us to work and so we shall ensure that the right thing is done,” Joseph Annan stated.
The Ghana Revenue Authority has closed down all branches of China Mall after it failed to adopt the usage of the E-VAT system.