GRA BAGS GH¢32.3 BILLION FOR 2017

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Monday January 22, 2018

The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) collected a whopping GH¢32.3 billion as taxes for 2017 but missed the target set for the year narrowly.

According to the Commissioner-General Emmanuel Kofi Nti, the authority could not meet the target of GH¢33.43 billion.

He insisted that the 2017 performance saw what he called a ‘nominal’ growth over the figures recorded in the last five years.

“As at the end of the year, the provisional collection figure stood at GH¢32.3 billion; it means we registered a shortfall of GH¢1.1 billion which translates into some 3.4%,” he said at a media soiree in Accra last Friday night, adding “it is a relatively good performance taking into account the performance over the last five years.”

The Commissioner-General said that “the collection taxes in terms of the US Dollar was stagnant and was in the region of 6.8 and 6.9 billion.”

“However for 2017, GRA collection rose to 7.6 billion and it was a break from the trend.”

Giving a breakdown for collection for 2017, he said that GRA targeted GH¢12.8, but collected GH¢13.8 billion for direct taxes on the domestic front and also targeted GH¢6.7 billion and collected GH¢6.4 billion as indirect taxes.

“On the customs front, we had a target of GH¢13.9 but we collected GH¢12.7,” he said, adding “in the net effect on the domestic front, we were able to exceed the target.”

He said “we didn’t achieve the target set but our performance saw a nominal growth of 22.3% over the 2016 collection figures.”

He said the GRA performed creditably, especially in the last six months, but fell short of the target marginally.

On the way forward, the Commissioner-General said that the implementation of the Excise Tax Policy, which could start last year, as well as the introduction of the electronic Point of Sale (PoS) systems as part of efforts to clamp down on tax evaders will help the authority to improve its performance in the coming years.

He said the paperless system at the ports, the roll out of the Total Revenue Integrated Processing System (TRIPS) and the National Tax Campaign helped them to collect more taxes than previously.