Four branches of the China Mall Shopping facilities in Accra have been shuttered by enforcement agents of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) for failing to comply with the e-invoicing system for Value Added Tax (VAT) that the Authority adopted.
On October 1, 2022, the Authority began rolling out the e-invoicing system for VAT collectors to 600 major taxpayers who account for more than 90% of VAT revenue.
The GRA can monitor real-time transactions in the businesses where it has been implemented, unlike the manual system, making it impossible for taxpayers to under-invoice or evade paying VAT.
The shopping center was not open when the officials first arrived at the facility’s Spintex Road Branch, but GRA claimed they believed management knew about the incident.
The branches of Ashaiman and Amasaman are additional.
According to Mr. Joseph Annan, the GRA’s Area Enforcement Manager in charge of Accra Central, the Authority had been consulting with the management of a few chosen enterprises on how to implement the system, but the majority of them had disobeyed.
The businesses weren’t open when they arrived at the location, he claimed, so “we merely added the Commissioner-Seal.” General’s
Even though it’s only Seal, he claimed that any attempt to remove it would be illegal, and until they took the proper action, the establishment would remain closed.
Workers had to be stopped so that the shop could be blocked off for the enforcement exercise when the team arrived at the other shop, which was also located along Spintex Road and the facility’s warehouse.
He claimed that the Authority had chosen a few companies to begin the system’s pilot, and this time they would strictly enforce the legislation. All of these companies’ branches would be shut down until their various management fixed the system.
“We will continue to pursue all who have failed to fix the system until they comply,” he added.
He declared that the China Mall Shops and other chosen enterprises would be the subject of a similar process in Kumasi.
With the Commissioner-Seal, General’s all of the warehouses were sealed.
Unable to comprehend why the locations were being shut, the employees voiced their discontent with the exercise, and some of them became irate with the officers.
