GRA drags 30 OMCs to court over failure to pay GHS 220 million in taxes
Over thirty Oil Marketing Companies [OMCs], have been dragged to court over failure to pay more than GHS 220 million in taxes to the state since 2019.
The prosecution is led by the Ghana Revenue Authority, who decided to go this way after several efforts to retrieve the funds from the OMCs turned futile.
The Commissioner General for GRA, Rev. Dr. Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah, speaking on the issue stated that since the start of the prosecution, some of the companies have started negotiations and are paying, however, those who fail to pay will continue to face prosecution.
‘There are over 30 of them that we are prosecuting , we have started prosecuting them in court and I am sure if you speak to them, you will know. Since we started some of them have come to negotiate and started paying but those who fail will continue the two years prosecution till its conclusion’
Dr. Owusu-Amoah, added that, the number of OMCs are increasing so the Authority will appeal to the Chief Justice to add one more court to speed up the prosecution process.
‘Some of them have already appeared in court and we think that this year we might have to even talk to the chief justice to add one more court because we started with just one and we have seen the volume in terms of number.
“So we will continue to pursue them, we have put various restrictions and at the same time also try to give you them the chance to able to pay over a period of time and at the same time we don’t allow credit, so you are not adding to the debt but at least you are in business and you will be able to produce the debts’, he said.
This action by the GRA, demonstrates the current challenges facing most oil firms in the country, which will have to compel the Ghana Petroleum Corporation to review licenses requirement for those firms.
Meanwhile, the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has stepped up efforts to ensure that all tax defaulting companies honour their obligations to the state in order for the authority to meet its revenue target for the year.
Consequently, the authority has ordered seven directors of three companies to report to its Domestic Tax Division for discussions on their tax liability.
The three companies have had a total of GH¢22.6 million outstanding as tax liability for some time now, according to a notice published in the January 13 edition of the Daily Graphic.
The publication listed the defaulting companies as Gold Shop Limited with a tax liability of GH¢548,454.46, ISQ Resources Ghana Limited with a tax liability of GH¢9.98 million and Italtec Ghana Limited with a liability of GH¢12.02 million. It also included the tax identification numbers (TINs) of the companies and the names of seven directors, who it said must report to the Commissioner of Domestic Tax Division of the GRA.
The notice neither stated when the directors were to report to the authority nor the period that the taxes had been outstanding.
It, however, said the publication was in fulfilment of Sections 58 and 95 of the Revenue Administration Act 2016 (Act 915), which mandated the GRA Commissioner-General to publish the names of tax offenders in the Gazette, on the GRA website and in any other national media.
“The directors are to note that failure to honour this invitation and failure to settle outstanding liabilities will result in other enforcement actions taken against them to recover debts,” the notice said.
In recent times, the GRA has stepped up efforts to collect taxes due the state to fund critical expenditures and grow a low revenue to gross domestic revenue (GDP) ratio.
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In May last year, state prosecutors dragged the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of K. Ofori Limited and three others to court for allegedly evading tax to the tune of GH¢1.6 billion.
The prosecutors said the malpractice dated back to 2013. Consequently, Frank Kwadwo Ofori, the CEO, together with Hani Mikati, Marwam Hamwi and Sallam Mohammed Gharib, all officials of United Steel Company, were slapped with conspiracy to commit crime, namely fraudulent evasion of tax.
The charges were read to them when they appeared before an Accra Circuit Court, presided over by Ms Afua Owusua Appiah.
It also locked up the offices of various companies last year ostensibly to get them to pay up their tax liabilities.
2022 Target
In spite of the spirited effort to increase revenue mobilisation, the country’s revenue-to-gross domestic product (GDP) ratio remains below its peers.
In the 2022 Budget, the Minister of Finance, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, said the government was supporting the GRA to ramp up collections to help shore up revenue and reduce a soaring debt appetite.
The budget pegged the domestic revenue target at GH¢99,550 million, representing an annual growth of 44 per cent over the projected outturn for 2021.
Of the total domestic revenue amount, the minister said non-oil tax revenue constituted about 77.5 per cent and amounted to GH¢77.1 billion (15.4 per cent of GDP).
