The Ghana Revenue Authority has arrested 10 supermarket managers for failing to comply with Value Added Tax (VAT) requirements. The arrest was effected after staff of the GRA conducted inspections at stores in the Awoshie-Anyah Market and the Ablekuma enclave.
Following unannounced visits to the businesses by a task team, authorities made the arrests after mystery shoppers confirmed that the store owners were breaking the law.
VKand T Trading Enterprise, Freemago Enterprise, Molla Enterprise, Delcam FB Stationery, Abi Ventures, Jomulet Enterprises, and Yemez Ventures were all shut down for neglecting to produce VAT invoices or issuing them selectively.
The exercise, as explained by the Assistant Commissioner in Charge of the Accra Central Enforcement Unit, Joseph Annan, was part of the authority’s attempts to promote voluntary tax compliance and assure compliance among small and medium-sized businesses.
He went on to tell the media that GRA was doing similar procedures in other marketplaces to check for VAT regulations.
Annan said that the owners of businesses that had previously been shut down for noncompliance will be called again to determine if they are complying now.
“If we find out that they are not complying, then we will classify them as recalcitrant… We dealt with them leniently when we found them to be non-compliant for the first time, but if for the second time we find out that nothing has changed them, we won’t be friendly at all. For those of you who declared profits but failed to pay to the authority, we will also come after you,” Annan said.
