Statutory tax collection body, the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), exceeded its tax revenue collection target for 2020 by some Ghs 2.5 billion.
The GRA for the year 2020, was able to mobilize total tax revenue of Ghs 45,338.69 million as against a revised target of Ghs 42,769.50 million for the year on the back of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Authority was initially budgeted to collect total tax revenue of Ghs 47,253.95 million for the 2020 fiscal year, a 7.6% growth over the actual tax revenue collections of Ghs 43,907.12 million for the 2019 fiscal year.
Tax revenue collection performance by the GRA for this year, according to the Acting Commissioner-General of the GRA, Rev. Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah, represents a nominal growth rate of 3.3% over the same period in 2019, adding that, domestic revenue grew by a nominal rate of 2.8% while Customs collection grew by 4.5% in 2020.
Speaking at a media soiree held by the GRA, Rev. Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah attributed GRA’s performance to factors such as; increased and targeted compliance exercises, the Integrated Tax Application and Preparation System (ITaPS) & Ghana.Gov, the Integrated Customs Management Systems (ICUMS), increased operations in the mining, financial & telecommunication sectors and enforcement exercises on the part of the GRA.
Meanwhile, the GRA has set a provisional tax revenue target of Ghs 60 billion ($10.3 billion) for 2021, a 32.3 percent increase over the 2020 actual collection of Ghs 45.338 billion ($7.78 billion).
Announcing the Authority’s tax revenue target for the year, Rev. Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah noted that although the task appeared daunting, the GRA would implement innovative measures to meet the target.
Among the measures to achieve the 2021 revenue target is the Introduction of New Excise Tax Stamps with enhanced security features, which are difficult to duplicate from January 1, 2021.
