Eastern IRS beat 1st quarter target

The Internal Revenue Service in the Eastern Region has as at March 31, 2007 collected taxes totalling ¢17,531,439,708.64 as against ¢16,195,639,348 projected for the first quarter of the year. The target set for the region for 2007 is ¢70,187,819,996.

This was disclosed in an interview by S T Tetteh, Eastern Regional Manager of the IRS after a mini durbar to climax the third Revenue Week celebration under the theme "Promoting understanding of income taxation."

Mr Tetteh gave the assurance that the Service would step up its tax collection efforts to meet and possibly surpass the target.

Addressing the durbar, he advised workers in both the formal and informal sectors to file their income tax returns on or before April 30 each year to avoid payment of penalty.

Mr Tetteh drew attention to the Tax Concealment Law and said that any person found liable under the Law would pay a penalty twice or thrice the original amount due. All gifts, apart from those given by very close relatives, including from parents to their children and vice versa, are taxable, he stressed.

Mr Tetteh said taxes from the informal sector account for only five percent.

The Deputy Regional Minister, Susana Mensah urged the IRS to do everything possible to draw more people, especially those in the informal sector into the tax net, emphasising that without the taxes, Government would not be able to provide the needs of the people.