GRA shuts down Palace mall, China mall branches over non-compliance
The Ghana Revenue Authority has closed down five shopping centres in Accra over failure to integrate their value-added tax (VAT) invoices into the authority’s newly deployed electronic (e) invoicing system.
In an exercise to enforce compliance yesterday[October 11, 2022], the GRA’s tax force closed down four branches of Palace Mall and one branch of China Mall for noncompliance with the GRA’s directive to comply before October 1, 2022.
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The four branched are the Labone, Spintex, Madina and Weija branches of the Palace Mall.
The authority had earlier closed down some branches of the China Mall.
The defaulting centres are part of about 50 retail centres selected by the GRA to pilot the implementation of the Electronic VAT system which began in October 1, 2022.
The Electronic VAT system began on October 1, 2022 as a measure to help it block revenue loopholes.
The implementation of the e-VAT invoicing system, was also to enable GRA to counter the various malpractices that the GRA said were denying the state billions of cedis in tax revenue.
Last resort
The Deputy Commissioner in charge of Operations at the Domestic Tax Revenue Division, Kwasi Eghan, explained that closing down was the authority’s last resort.
He urged the firms yet to integrate their system to ensure compliance before the end of this week.
He noted that by the end of 2023, 600 additional tax payers would be enrolled unto the certified invoice system.
Mr Egyan added that by 2024, all tax payers would have been fully integrated unto the platform.