The Customs Division of Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) in the northern region has failed to meet its 2017 revenue target of GHS 190.73 million.
It managed to collect GHS 156.51 million missing the target by GHS 34.22million representing a negative deviation of 17.94%.
The Northern Sector commander of the division, Paul Kwasi Ahiakpor disclosed the discrepancy during a press soirée in Tamale Friday. Though he failed to assign reasons for the shortfall, Mr. Ahiakpor was quick to point out that when he took over from his predecessor last year, he was hopeful that this year’s target will be achieved
The custom division of GRA, Mr Ahiakpor said, has set a target of 63.86 million Ghana cedis for 2018 through its proactive and pragmatic strategies. He said the lack of competent officers to man the porous borders and the smuggling of unaccustomed vehicles were the major challenges confronting his outfit.
Answering questions on GRA clamping down on unaccustomed vehicles smuggling cloths smuggled into the region, Mr Ahiakpor advised residents to desist from smuggling cars into the region.
“Don’t venture into smuggling vehicles because it is not like any other goods. The chassis numbers of vehicles make them unique and the special features and models of vehicles makes it very difficult to play smart with custom officers,” he said.
Annual turnover
The deputy manager of medium tax office(MTO), Alhaji Abdul Rashid Yakubu commended all taxpayers and business whose annual turnover is above GHS 200,000 and located within MTO catchment areas for filing their tax returns.
The MTO, he said, collected a total of GHS 39,147,543.28 as part of its revenue mobilization effort. Its target was GHS 47,661,362.06 but it exceeded that number in the first quarter
Meanwhile, institutions and organizations withholding tax paid amounted to about 80% collected by the Small Tax Payer Office(STO) collections. The STO target was to collect a revenue of about GHS 25,961,820.18 in 2017, but manage to collect 21,258,532.48, a short fall ofGHS 4,705,287.18, representing a negative deviation of 18%. The office It is expected to mobilize tax revenue of about GHS 25 million in 2018.
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