A now defunct consumer goods company, Hippo Limited, has refuted claims by the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), that it has defaulted in the payment of taxes to the tune of GHc 1,361,546,803.56.
The position of Hippo Limited was made known in a press release dated 31
October 2022, issued by the management of Hippo Limited, a defunct member of
the Hippo Group of Companies, a wholly Ghanaian owned holdings company, formed
in 2008 with Hippo Limited, the parent company, originally established in 1983.
GRA advert
“The attention of Hippo Limited has been drawn to a notice by the Ghana Revenue
Authority published in the Business and Financial Times on 26th October 2022,
alleging amongst others that, Hippo Limited has defaulted in the payment of
taxes to the tune of GHS1,361,546,803.56.
“We wish to bring to the attention of the general public that not only is the
said notice false, but it is also misleading and malicious. Contrary to the
notice by GRA, Hippo Limited successfully contested the assessment in 2017 in
the High Court, Accra,” the Hippo Limited statement read.
*High Court decision*
The press release further noted, “For the avoidance of doubt, Hippo Limited
hereby publishes the conclusions of the High Court judgment dated 22nd May 2020
to enable the public appreciate the truth or otherwise of the status of the
matter."
The judgement was in respect of an application invoking the Judicial Review
jurisdiction of the High Court in the case of Hippo Limited and the
Commissioner General, Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA).
The Court held as follows; “Consequently, the Application for Judicial Review
filed by the Applicant is hereby granted in part as is the request of the
Respondent as contained in the paragraph 12 of its affidavit in response to the
Application, and the Court hereby enters the following orders:
“It is hereby ordered that the tax assessment carried out by the Respondent
entitling the Respondent to recover the sum of One billion, three hundred and
sixty-two million four hundred and eight thousand, six hundred Ghana Cedis and
ninety Pesewas (GHc1,362,408,600.90) as the tax liability of the Applicant
dated 27th August 2018 is accordingly set aside, as well as all the execution
processes founded thereon.
“It is further ordered that the Applicant make available to the Respondent,
within thirty (30) days from the date of this order, all relevant documents
Applicant seeks to rely on in proof of its objection to the assessed tax
liability for the Respondent to carry out another assessment of the Applicant's
tax liability.
“Upon receipt of the documentation of the Applicant, the Respondent is to
complete the reassessment of the tax liability of the Applicant within two (2)
weeks therefrom and serve its decision on the Applicant.
“It is further ordered that should the Applicant fail to so comply with the
Order to furnish its documentation to the Respondent and in the time frame
therein specified, the Respondent is at liberty to carry out the reassessment
without the input of the Applicant.
“It is ordered, finally, that as the Applicant is not in active operation, its
warehouse remain closed for the period of this reassessment exercise,” the
judgement of the court read.
*In-action of GRA*
Subsequent to the orders of the Court, Hippo Limited says it has submitted all
the relevant documents, audited account statements among others to GRA.
However, to date, GRA has not done anything about the situation but continue to
create the erroneous impressions that Hippo Limited owes taxes.
Be that as it may, Hippo Limited's contention is that, it is impossible for the
GRA to allege that they have failed to pay taxes when it operated under the
bonded warehouse scheme which is managed and controlled by officers of GRA
directly.
*Bad faith*
Hippo Limited therefore noted that in view of the court's decision, it “wishes
to put on record that GRA has not complied with the orders of the High Court
and, therefore, its notice is not only unlawful but in clear breach of the
orders of the Court.
“Hippo Limited is not indebted to GRA and the said notice should be discarded
as same was published in bad faith to dent the hard-earned reputation of the
Company and its named directors,” the management of Hippo Limited stated in
their press release.
Source: Peacefmonline.com