IRS Launches Tax Education

As part of its fifth Revenue Week celebration the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) on Monday embarked on a vigorous tax education and collection in the Tema Community one market. The celebration is under the theme, “Enhancing tax compliance- The responsibility of the income earning property owner.”

The visit to the market provided IRS personnel the opportunity to interact with traders in the informal sector and to sensitise them on the need to honour their quarterly tax obligations promptly.

The programme will be extended to Madina, Mallam Atta and Makola markets among others during the week. There will also be radio discussions and seminars on taxation.

During the visit, some of the traders initially refused to honour their tax obligation complaining that their goods were not being patronised but when personnel attempted to seize some of their wares, they reluctantly paid.

Mr Stephen Yaw Boateng, Chief Inspector of Taxes of Tema Main District, told the press after the exercise that voluntary compliance was low in the informal sector and as a result, personnel had to adopt various strategies including seizure of traders' to get them to hem pay.

He said service was confronted with challenges like lack of adequate vehicles and personnel and added that even though National Service Personnel had over the years helped in that regard, a lot more needed to be done to resolve the human resource problem.

Mr Boateng appealed to traders in the informal sector to honour their tax obligation promptly to ensure speedy development of the country.