Ghana Revenue Authority to reward whistleblowers who help them recover taxes

The Acting Commissioner-General of GRA, Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah, said this is to recover more taxes and increase revenue.

He was speaking at this year's annual management retreat held in Kumasi in the Ashanti region.

He added that the GRA has developed strategies that will ensure they achieve revenue targets and other transformational targets for the year.

Strategy for 2020

The Commissioner-General said the GRA will authorise banks to accept payment of taxes on its behalf and introduce the payment of vehicle income tax and tax stamp payments via mobile money.

He added that the GRA will automate the payment of Value Added Tax (VAT). The authority will link teller systems of VAT registered businesses to a centralised database so that VAT collected is credited to the authority in real-time.

He also said that the authority will automate the filing of returns, issuance of a tax clearance certificate, withholding tax credit and other certifications.

Meanwhile, the Commissioner-General said the GRA exceeded its target in 2019. "The GRA was able to collect GHC 43.9 billion out of a targeted GHC 42.08 billion."

He said this was due to the vigorous and issue-based audits, especially in the petroleum sector, massive debt collection exercise, rigorous examination of imports, increase in the communication service tax in the last quarter of the year and enforcement of excise tax stamp and introduction of tax Stam authenticator.