The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) is the Ghana administration charged with the task of assessing, collecting and accounting for tax revenue in Ghana.[1][2]
As part of efforts to improve compliance, the Authority is required to assist taxpayers to understand and meet their tax obligations by providing robust and comprehensive advice.
Since its inception the GRA has integrated the four revenue institutions namely the Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS), the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the Value Added Tax Service (VATS) and the Revenue Agencies Governing Board (RAGB).[1]
History
In December 2009, the four revenue agencies that is Customer Electronic Payment Systems (CEPS), Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Value Added Tax (VAT) Service and Revenue Agencies Governing Board(RAGB) Secretariat were merged in accordance with the Ghana Revenue Authority Act, 2009 (Act 791).[3][4] GRA thus replaces the revenue agencies in the administration of taxes and customs duties in the country.[3][5]
The establishment of the GRA is part of the reforms in revenue administration of tax collection in Ghana which began in the mid-eighties when CEPS and IRS were taken out of the Civil Service and made semi-autonomous and self-accounting public sector institutions with separate boards. The National Revenue Secretariat (NRS) was set up to formulate revenue policies, manage tax reforms and supervise the activities of CEPS and IRS.[6]
In 1998, the VAT Service was established to administer VAT and other consumption taxes. RAGB also began operations in 2001 to supervise and monitor the operations of the revenue agencies.[6] In 2002, the Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) was introduced to enhance information interchange and risk profiling. Then in 2004, the Large Taxpayer Unit (LTU) was set up to operate on functional lines as a pilot programme for the future integration of tax administration in Ghana as well as to serve the needs of large taxpayers as a one-stop-shop operation.[1]
It was envisaged that the integration of the revenue agencies will bring the following benefits to taxpayers and the revenue administration.
Reduced administrative and tax compliance cost
Better service delivery
Improved departmental information flow
Holistic approach to domestic tax and customs administration
The Ghana Revenue Authority announced in April 2022 that it will begin collecting value added taxes (VAT) from non-resident companies or persons that conduct business transactions in Ghana via the electronic transmission of data over communications networks like the internet.[8]
Organizational structure
A nine-member governing board of directors, consisting of both public and private sector experts, makes policy decisions to be implemented by GRA Management. The Board also makes recommendations to the Minister of Finance on tax policy, reform and legislation.
The chairman of the Board as well as the chief executive officer of the Authority called the Commissioner-General are appointed by the President of the Republic of Ghana https://gra.gov.gh/customs/. The Authority has three main divisions, namely Customs Division (CD) which are the customs, Domestic Tax Revenue Division (DTRD) which include The Audits, The Tax Force, etc. and Support Services Division (SSD) which are the Administration, IT, Account, etc. which are all headed by [4]
Functions
The Ghana Revenue Authority has been charged to perform amongst others, the following functions as enacted by Act 791:
Assess and collect taxes, interest and penalties on taxes due to the state with optimum efficiency;[9]
Pay the amounts collected into the Consolidated Fund[9]
Combat tax fraud and evasion and co-operate to that effect with other competent law enforcement agencies and revenue agencies in other countries;[9]
Advise District Assemblies on the assessment and collection of their revenue;[9]
Prepare and publish reports and statistics related to its revenue collection;[9]
Make recommendations to the Minister on revenue collection policy[10][11]
GRA informant award scheme
The Ghana Revenue Authority is reminding the public about their informant award scheme, where individuals can receive rewards for providing information that aids in tax recovery.[12][13]
The information should reveal various illicit activities, including tax underreporting, smuggling or diversion of goods, invoice manipulation, failure to provide VAT invoices, record tampering/fabrication, failure to register for taxes, and similar violations.[12]
In December 2022, Through the effective implementation of its Informant Reward Scheme (IRS), the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) managed to recover more than $93 million from multinational and local companies operating within the country.[13][14]
Tax policy environment
Tax revenue generation is based on clearly defined tax policy measures. GRA remains a key partner of the Tax Policy Unit of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (Ghana). This collaboration which is complemented by tapping the expertise of stakeholders drawn across several economic and social sectors is geared toward the formulation of effective and sustainable policies designed to enhance tax revenue collection by the Authority.[15]
Taxpayers
Taxpayers registered with GRA are segmented into three identifiable groups that is Large, Medium and Small based on defined criteria. Taxpayers with an annual turnover of over GH¢5 million are classified as large taxpayers.[16] This category also includes specialist industries irrespective of their turnover. These are upstream and midstream petroleum companies, banking institutions, insurance companies, mining companies and quarries, and members of groups of companies where at least one member qualifies as a large taxpayer.
Taxpayers within the turnover bracket of GH¢90,000 up to GH¢5 million are categorized as medium taxpayers, while those with an annual turnover of less than GH¢90,000 are classified as small taxpayers.[16]
The GRA announced that from 1st April, 2022, it will no longer accept manual tax returns from specified group of taxpayers but instead, returns will have to be filed through the taxpayers portal from the effective date.[17]
Tax Types
There are various taxes that taxpayers are required to pay. These are grouped into two main headings under the Domestic Tax types. These are the Individual Tax Types and the Business Tax Types.
Individual Tax Types
These are
Pay As You Earn (PAYE)
Personal Income Tax (PIT)
Vehicle Income Tax (VIT)
Rent Income Tax
Tax Stamp
Gift Tax
Capital Gains Tax
Stamp Duty
Business Tax Types
These are
Value Added Tax
Corporate Income Tax (CIT)
Withholding Tax (WHT)
Rent Tax
Communications Service Tax (CST)
Excise Tax Stamp
Excise Duty
Stamp Duty
Mineral Royalties Tax
Business Tax
Others
Importers and Exporter are expected to pay customs duty at the various ports and centres
Introduction of Uni-Pass clearance system
On 21 February 2020, personnel and logistics were distributed by the Customs Division, to test the Uni-Pass clearance system at the Takoradi Port.[18][16][19][20] This system handles all paperwork and payments at one point, an improvement on the previous system, which processed all the operations in several offices.[21][22][23] This was after its successful implementation at the Aflao Collection Point in the Volta Region.[24]
Amendments of tax laws
The Ghana Revenue Authority has announced the implementation of amendments to several tax laws, notifying the general public that these changes are now in effect.[25][26][27]
The GRA has acknowledged that businesses have been given ample time to make necessary system adjustments ahead of tax implementation since the law was enacted.[27]
Electronic Transfer Levy (Amendment) Act 2022 (Act 1089)
The Act grants the Commissioner-General the authority to set up a monitoring system to confirm the real revenue received by a taxpayer to calculate taxes due.
In addition to other penalties under the Act, it imposes a penalty of 5% of yearly gross revenue on anyone who refuses to give the Commissioner-General or a tax officer physical access to their system, infrastructure, or network node.
With regard to the production of or access to a document, this amendment supersedes existing provisions in other enactments that deal with secrecy, privilege, or the public interest.
According to the Act, anybody who realizes an asset or a liability must also file a separate return.
Value Added Tax (VAT) rates rising from 12.5% to 15%
Examining the transitional measures to enable the Commissioner-General to choose the appropriate circumstances in which a taxable person should make use of the Certified Invoicing System (E-VAT).
For non-compliance, it also offers further administrative sanctions.
To exclude gambling, gaming, and other chance-based activities from VAT.
The abolition of VAT exemptions on imported textbooks, imported newspapers, architectural plans and similar designs, drawings, scientific and technical works, periodicals, magazines, trade catalogues, price lists, greeting cards, almanacs, calendars, diaries, stationery, and other printed matter. All amendments will come into effect on 21 January, 2023[27]
Partnerships
Myassembly.gov.gh
From the year 2023, GRA partnered with the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) in the collection of property rates in the country using a Unified Common Property Rate Platform. This Unified Common Property Rate Platform also known as MYASSEMBLY.GOV.GH[28] is a complete end-to-end district revenue collection and administration platform designed to enhance the collection and accounting of property rates.[29][30]
The partnership will see the tax authority receive 30 percent of the property revenue mobilization to cover for systems, logistics and other financial overheads accrued and will credit the 70 percent to the respective MMDAs.[31] This new partnership seeks to raise not less than 1.77 billion Ghana Cedis yearly.
Aside conducting training for the various assembly staff across the country,[32] a total of 5000 Technical Support Officers (TSOs) and Client Support Officers (CSOs) were deployed in the late first quarter of the year 2023 by the GRA to assist property rate payers in the various MMDAs across the country to register and pay their property rates.[31]
Petition against GRA over assembly.gov.gh activities
In July 2023, the Chamber of Local Governance (ChaLoG) petitioned the Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO) to investigate what it termed an illegal lodgment of government funds into the account of a private company—Digital City Solutions Limited (DCS). ChaLoG alleged that GRA is being used a decoy by DCS for the collection of property rate tax. They maintained such an act was in contravention of the Financial Administration Act, 2003 (ACT 654) and the Financial Management Regulations, 2019 (L.I 2378).[33][34]
ChaLoG stated categorically that their investigation "revealed that the myassembly.gov.gh payment platform account is on the contrary, being managed by DCS and not GRA".[35]
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