The Ghana Revenue Authority on October 1, 2022 deployed the certified electronic invoicing system – commonly known as E-VAT – in accordance with the amended Valued Added Tax Act 870. The E-VAT certifies every invoice issued by taxpayers in near-real time for revenue assurance purposes.
Speaking to the public on the Eye on Port programme, members of the E-VAT
Technical Team of the Ghana Revenue Authority emphasised that the E-VAT is not
a new tax.
Mrs. Felicia Omotayo Owusu said the rate of tax remains the same for both the
standard and flat rate schemes.
“The rate of tax for VAT in the standard rate is 4.5%, NHIL is 2.5%, GETFUND
Levy is also 2.5% and COVID-19 Levy is 1%. For flat rate schemes, VAT is 3% and
COVID-19 is 1%. Nothing has changed. It is just the process of issuing an
invoice. We are using electronic means so we can authenticate and validate the
invoices in real or near-real time.”
Mr. Patrick Frimpong Danso on his part said the E-VAT system has seen success
in countries where it is being deployed – such as Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and
Uganda.
He added that: “We have a lot of issues with the old system. The GRA had given
certain big shops authorisation to print their own invoices. There was a
possibility they could be suppressing sales. If they made 100,000 transactions
in a month, they could declare only 200. We had no way to verify. There is a
software they can use to suppress sales figures”.
The GRA in its commencement phase of the programme has begun with some 50
taxpayers, and by 2024 the Authority will onboard all registered taxpayers onto
the E-VAT system.
According to GRA officials, Mr. Danso’s outfit has engaged the various
companies being on-boarded onto the system, taught them how to operate the
system and provided them with Relationship Managers to serve as a liaison
between GRA and the said company in case of difficulties.
“The Melcom outlets are about 74 across the country, and they have all been
on-boarded. Same for the China malls and Palace Mall. We started with them so
we can learn from the challenges we faced, rectify them and then onboard the
rest who have less complex processes,” Mrs. Owusu said.
The GRA officials however cautioned persons and business entities which may
want to circumvent the system to evade tax.
Mr. Frimpong Danso said the GRA is able to monitor all the activities of such
tax payers pertaining to the issuance of VAT invoices and will send out a team
whenever anomalies are detected.
The officials explained that the invigilation exercise embarked on by GRA over
the past few weeks to check compliance is necessary.
“The officers will cross-check receipts and record the sales so that at end of
the week they will tally and compare them with returns on the taxpayer files.
Invigilation is part of our compliance tools,” Mrs. Owusu revealed.
The Ghana Revenue Authority says these initiatives being undertaken will not
only improve revenue collection on their part but also improve business
processes.
Source: B&FT