The Ashanti Regional Sector for the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) Custom Division has exceeded its revenue collection target for 2018.
The target for last year was GH¢578.250 million, but it collected GH¢652, 235, an excess of GH¢73,980 representing 12.5%.
Juxtaposing the achievements to the national target in 2018, which was GH¢39.802 billion, the GRA as a whole attained GH¢37.63 billion representing 94.5% of the set target.
A Principal Revenue Officer in charge of Warehouse in Kumasi, Edward Aggrey Fynn, who disclosed this during a press soiree last Friday said the figures indicated that the region fell short by 5.5% of the national target.
He indicated that although the target was not achieved last year, the revenue performance recorded a nominal growth of 16.4% which was above the figure in 2017.
He said Domestic tax revenue grew up by 24.4% whilst customs grew by 3.9%.
Mr. Aggrey Fynn further said the challenges that came their way did not stop them from inching close to the set target.
The GRA has set GH¢45.5 billion as revenue target for the year 2019.
Out of this figure, GH¢751,390 has been given as target for the Customs Division which is about 15% of the 2018 target.
He said the Kumasi customs gets its revenue through information and arrest since the office does not have a direct frontier with any foreign country.
He called on the media to furnish them with information to be able to go after persons who evade taxes.
“With your cooperation, we will be able to achieve the 2019 target. If you get any hint of some people trying to do the wrong thing, you hint us so that together we can help build Ghana and then we achieve the vision of Ghana beyond aid,” he appealed.
Deputy Commissioner of the GRA, Sakyi Duodo disclosed that the GRA will soon introduce the online filing of tax returns to enable the citizens to go through the process at their own convenience.
He reminded the general public to visit all nearby GRA offices to file their tax returns since the deadline for the filing is 30th April 2019.
He wants the media to play a major role in educating the public on the need to fulfill their tax obligations voluntarily.
According to Mr. Duodo, the introduction of the excise tax stamp has not only helped in maximizing revenue for the country, but has also helped in checking of smuggled products into the country and the consumption of unwholesome products by the citizens.
He maintained that the policy will be sustained until there is full compliance.
The GRA recently embarked on an exercise to rid the market of products without Tax Excise Stamps on them.
The registration of the Tax Identification Number (TIN) he said was still ongoing and urged the public who have not yet registered to avail themselves to the civic and patriotic exercise.
He further indicated that the GRA will continue to educated and sensitize the citizens on the need to fulfill their tax obligations to enable the Authority achieve its targets.
Source: Ghana/otecfmghana.com
