A statement from GCNet said the remarkable achievement came at a time when 68 tax offices of the Domestic Tax Revenue Division (DTRD) of the GRA had been migrated onto the system and are using it to process taxes.

The tripsTM platform is a software for tax administration designed as a business automation process system that seeks to streamline and bring transparency in the business operations of the GRA DTRD through the automation of processes while ensuring increased accessibility to management reports, increased efficiency and effectiveness in revenue mobilisation.

In 2016 it was not until December that collections crossed the 10 billion cedis mark while in 2017 the 10 billion cedis mark was realised in September.  The month of June 2018 recorded the second highest ever collection of 2.4 billion cedis, slightly below the 2.6 billion cedis recorded in December 2017.

Domestic tax revenue collections at the end of July 2018 was up by 30 per cent compared to the same period in 2017 and up by 58 per cent in comparison with 2016.  It is anticipated that by September 2018, total collections through tripsTM will pass the 50 billion Ghana cedis mark from the time it was launched.

The completion of the nation-wide roll-out of tax offices across the country by the GRA supported by its technical partner GCNet, has supported efforts to broaden the tax-base and facilitated the issuance of Tax Identification Numbers (TINs).

More than 600,000 TINs have been generated in 2018 bringing the total to more than 1.5 million. tripsTM integrates seamlessly with a number of other government systems including the National Identification Authority and Driver and Vehicle Licencing Authority for the automated validation of individual identity documents.

Others are the Registrar-General’s Department for the automated creation of Company TINs and sharing of Company directors and shareholders’ data, GRA Customs Division for the identification of importers and exporters; and Controller and Accountant-General’s Department for revenue reporting. An internal campaign, ‘tripsTM Challenge,’ by GRA and its partner GCNet, was launched in November 2016 as a quarterly awards scheme to promote the use of tripsTM and the swift migration of taxpayers onto tripsTM in all tax offices across the nation to guarantee speedy processing of tax returns and enhance revenue administration.

It is also intended to motivate staff to use tripsTM effectively to generate the funds needed for national development.