TIG Post

Tag: COVID Vaccine Taskforce

  • GRA taskforce arrests business owners for tax evasion

    GRA taskforce arrests business owners for tax evasion

    The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) unit has detained four Accra-based business owners for failing to issue tax bills.

    The companies are Buildmart Company Ghana in Adabraka, Bedarts Cold Supplies in Lashibi, Yat Ventures in Mamobi and Excellence Boutique at Spintex Road.

    The managers were taken to the headquarters of the Customs Office for their statements before being handed over to the Criminal Investigation Department of the Police.

    The Area Enforcement Manager of GRA in charge of Accra Central, Mr Joseph Annan said the companies had not complied with Section 41 of the VAT Act which mandated them to issue the tax invoice at all times.

    He said the exercise was part of the Authority’s plans to ensure tax compliance and retrieve taxes due the state.

    He said the Division had several options at its disposal to aid in revenue mobilisation, including already existing initiatives such as auditing and test purchasing, among others.

    GRA taskforce arrests managers of enterprises over tax infractions  

    Mr Annan said the test purchases conducted on 115 taxpayers that were sampled for a week revealed that a total of 93 taxpayers were not issuing the VAT invoice.

    The figure, he stressed translated into a non-compliance rate of 80.9 per cent and said it was an offence for a registered taxpayer to fail to issue a VAT invoice for purchases made.

    He said the division would continue with the enforcement exercises with an eye on the implementation of the electronic invoicing system and other tax types.

    The government has tasked the GRA with raising a revenue target of GH₵‎106 billion for the 2023 fiscal year.

    Out of this figure, the Domestic Tax Revenue Division is expected to collect 70 per cent of the total revenue.

    Mr Annan said the Authority would continue to embark on surprise exercises across the country to apprehend culprits evading tax.

    He urged the public, especially customers who make taxable purchases, to always request and insist on their VAT invoices.

  • Government intensifying talks to ensure gas supplies ahead of the winter demand surge

    Whitehall officials are negotiating with companies including Cheniere and Venture Global amid intense pressure on Liz Truss’s administration to bolster Britain’s energy security, Sky News learns.

    Ministers are in talks with major US-based producers of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in a bid to bolster Britain’s energy security.

    Sky News has learned that the government is discussing substantial purchase agreements with companies including Cheniere and Venture Global.

    Sources said the talks were at a detailed stage although it was possible that they would not result in an agreement.

    Any deal with Cheniere and Venture Global would be worth, at a minimum, hundreds of millions of pounds, and would be likely to last for two years or more, according to one insider.

    Liz Truss, whose grip on power looked precarious on Friday after sacking her chancellor and reversing further key tenets of the government’s recent mini-Budget, has made energy security a central plank of her leadership.

    Unveiling her vast energy bills subsidy package last month, the prime minister said the government had established the Energy Supply Taskforce under the leadership of Maddy McTernan, who also led the COVID Vaccine Taskforce.

    The new unit, Ms Truss said, was “already negotiating new long-term energy contracts with domestic and international gas suppliers to immediately bring down the cost of this intervention [to reduce household energy bills]”.

    British imports of LNG accounted for 17% of the gas supplied to the UK through production and imports last year, according to data published by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

    The government has also acknowledged that it is seeking long-term deals with foreign states understood to include Norway and Qatar – sparking concerns that Britain will pay a ‘security premium’ in exchange for guaranteed supplies.

    Responding to an inquiry from Sky News, a government spokesman said: “As the Prime Minister has previously said, the new Energy Supply Taskforce has begun negotiations with domestic and international suppliers regarding long-term contracts to increase the UK’s energy resilience.”