The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has said its doors are open for business, and is thus urging corporate organisations to fulfil their tax obligations and ensure government generates all the revenues it can to help fight the coronavirus pandemic.
Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah, Acting Commissioner General of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), speaking at the unveilling of in-house produced hand-sanitisers, noted that the authority has re-opened its offices following the lifting of restrictions on movements in Accra and Kumasi by the president.
“Our offices have re-opened following the lifting of restrictions of movements in Accra and Kumasi by the president, and I appeal for all taxpayers to fulfil their tax obligation so as to ensure revenue target are met to support government intervention for Ghanaians in this time of COVID-19 crisis.
“As a responsible corporate organisation, we remain committed to our core mandate of ensuring maximum compliance with all relevant laws in order to achieve a sustainable revenue stream for government. All efforts will be made to facilitate payment of taxes during this period, but GRA will not allow deliberate non-payment of taxes,” he said.
He urged taxpayers who may find it difficult to visit the offices to continue filing their returns by using email addresses provided by the offices, and make payment through the banks.
According to the Commissioner General, while the authority supports the president’s COVID-19 interventions to lessen the impact of coronavirus on individuals and businesses in Ghana, taxpayers should not intentionally fail to submit their taxes.
Production of in-house hand-sanitisers
In line with President Nana Akufo-Addo’s call to local companies to produce high quality sanitisers to help against the spread of COVID-19 in Ghana, the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has taken up the challenge by manufacturing local sanitisers for its over-14,000 staff across the country.
The products, which save the authority a whopping amount of GH¢164,000 which would have been used to procure the sanitisers on the open market, are formulated at the GRA’s laboratory and have been approved by the Food and Drugs Authority after meeting the set standard of the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Mr. Owusu-Amoah disclosed that out of the 10,000-litre monthly production target, they have currently produced and delivered 5,799 litres.
“We are happy to also play a role in helping prevent the spread of coronavirus in Ghana. Our aim of local production is to distribute to every staff member of GRA, our various offices and every GRA outpost, as a precautionary measure to fight the disease. In addition, GRA has already begun providing free masks to all its field workers to protect themselves from the coronavirus outbreak.
“We estimate that GH¢164,000 will be saved monthly by manufacturing the sanitisers in our laboratory as opposed to procuring on the open market, where at some points the price has been inflated drastically,” he said.
Mr. Owusu-Amoah noted that GRA is expected to increase production in order to make the sanitisers available to its immediate stakeholders, such as the Ministry of Finance and other government agencies. He added that his outfit has instituted adequate and proper measures across all of its offices across the country to ensure adherence to social distancing and handwashing protocols among others.
