Nkonkonsa Celebrity Gossip From Africa
The Ghana Revenue Authority has closed the Palace Mall locations in Labone, Spintex, Atomic Roundabout, and Weija due to non-compliance with the authority’s E-VAT Invoicing system.
According to GRA, a number of chosen stores have purposefully neglected to generate electronic VAT bills when clients walk in to make purchases.
The GRA claims that these businesses’ disregard for its directive indicates that they are underreporting their taxes.
The China Mall branch in Weija has also been closed, increasing the total number of China Mall outlets closed in the previous 24 hours to five.
Speaking to the media, Joseph Annan, the Area Manager of the GRA’s Accra central office, warned the business owners from tampering with the Commissioner’s seal since it could make their position worse.
The management of the Palace Mall location in Labone locked themselves inside the store while watching GRA authorities begin the enforcement operation.
Even after repeated requests from the taskforce, they would not leave the area. Since then, the mall’s entrance has been sealed.
In a previous interview with the media, the deputy commissioner in charge of operations at the Domestic Tax Revenue Division pleaded with firms who had not yet agreed to the new VAT policy to do so or face heavy penalties.
“There are 50 taxpayers that have been enrolled in this project. We have started in earnest and the response is quite encouraging. However, what is happening is that, for some of the taxpayers, the deadline had elapsed, and some people are still not on the system.”
“GRA has decided that then compliance enforcement is the way to go. What we are doing now is that for those taxpayers who we have engaged, and are not hooked up unto the system, our compliance team will close down their shops. We are going to ensure that they are not restored until they comply.”
NKONKONSA.com
