Increase Revenue Mobilization Efforts--Treasury Officers Urged

Mr Eugene Asante Ofosuhene, the Controller and Accountant General, has called on treasury officers of the state to up their game in revenue mobilization, to help government achieve its development agenda.

He said the nation was at the crossroad of its development and it was important for treasury officers to assist in the generation of adequate revenue to fund the country's numerous development projects.

'Our nation today stands at the crossroads for the attainment of unprecedented growth and development, with policies like the free SHS and One District One Factory initiative.

'The onus falls on the treasury officers of the state to assist in all spheres of their duties to protect the public purse whiles also improving and enhancing revenue generation', he told a meeting of heads of accounts from the Ministries, Departments and Agencies in Kumasi.

The meeting was organized for state treasury officers by the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), in collaboration with the Controller and Accountant General's Department (CAGD, as part of the nationwide sensitization programme on the Withholding Value Added Tax (WVAT) regime.

It was attended by officers from the Ashanti, Brong Ahafo and Eastern Regions.

The WVAT is a mechanism to account for and pay VAT on the supply of goods and services by the person making the payment and it is the responsibility of the GRA working through the Commissioner General, to appoint WVAT agents to withhold a portion of VAT on the payment made to a VAT registered supplier, who is a Standard Rate Operator for the agent to remit to the GRA.

Mr. Ofosuhene said the fact that 'no nation can develop without effective mobilization of taxes', was the reason why countries over the world had designed various ways of tax collection, including the VAT and the WVAT.

The WVAT, according to him, was not a new VAT or tax regime, but had been in existence under the VAT Withholding Amendment Act, (ACT 954) 2017, aimed at reducing the nil and non-filers, reducing future uncollectable debts by collecting the tax upfront from the major consumers.

He said the WVAT would help increase voluntary registration, enhance compliance, promote fair application of tax law and improve revenue inflows into treasury.

Mr. Ofosuhene mentioned the Ghana Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS) and the Electronic Fund Transfer, as some of the key public financial management systems that would play leading roles in the execution of WVAT.

Mr. David Lartey Quarcoepone, Chief Revenue Officer GRA, advised the officers to assist in harnessing the available resources to meet the development agenda of the nation.

He was of the view that with innovative ways of generating revenue, the government's aim of lifting people from abject poverty would be materialized.