GRA locks up two firms for tax default

Officials of the Large Tax Payer Office of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) have locked up the premises of Akosombo Textile Limited and Akotex Synthetics Limited for non-payment of  more than GH¢8million in taxes.

 

The two firms, which are under similar management, have been defaulting on Value Added Tax (VAT) and Pay As You Earn (PAYE) taxes due the Authority since 2009.

Akosombo Textiles Limited has an outstanding tax of GH¢5,714,560, while Akotex owes the Authority a total of GH¢3,187,717.

Personnel from the Large Tax Payer Office and the Police Service paid unannounced visits to the establishments and locked up the premises.

The special exercise, christened “Distress Action”, was aimed at addressing the delinquency of corporate taxpayers and to ensure that businesses comply with the law and honour their tax obligations promptly.

Mr. Wisdom Kofi Xetor, Principal Revenue Officer at the Large Tax Payer Office, said: “It is a painful exercise but there is no other option to recover the amount owed than the ‘distress action.’

He said the two firms have been indebted to the GRA for a very long time and several attempts to recover the money have proven fruitless, hence the locking up of their offices.

“As we speak they have not paid anything, so it has become imperative for us to undertake this exercise. This is a huge amount of money; if this money is paid it will go a long way to solve some of the nation’s problems.”

The action, he explained, was not an attempt by the GRA to collapse businesses but to enforce the VAT law, adding the action has been taken because the GRA noticed that the two companies are in business and have been filing their returns. 

“Our records show that they are in business, but they are refusing to honour their tax obligations. VAT is a consumption tax, and once they are making sales it is imperative that they comply with the country’s tax law.”

He observed that the action was the last tool of mobilisation open to GRA to collect monies owed to it, adding that the companies would be given an ultimatum to pay and if they failed the Authority would take custody of their assets and sell them to defray the taxes.

Mr. Xetor cautioned the business community and other firms who find themselves in such similar situation to quickly settle their tax indebtedness.