Four Chinese-owned companies have been cited for various tax infractions by the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) during an unannounced enforcement exercise in Accra yesterday.

The companies are Strong Machine Company Limited at Spintex, Bayu Villa at Airport Residential Area, Nyankonton Building Materials at Oyarifa and H.E. GENS Company Limited.

At Strong Machine Company Limited at Spintex and H.E. GENS Company Limited at Oyarifa, the GRA team detected that  they engaged in selective issuance of VAT invoices.

At Bayu Villa, a restaurant at Airport Residential Area, the authority also discovered that receipts were being issued in Chinese instead of English.

The enforcement team sealed off Nyankonton Building Materials at Oyarifa after it failed to obtain records to support the company’s operations.

For the remaining three companies, the team retrieved records and computers for further examination and pre-emptive assessment.

The exercise formed part of ongoing unannounced operations by the GRA in Accra to verify tax records and strengthen compliance with Value Added Tax requirements of businesses.

Targets

Speaking to the media after the exercise, the Assistant Commissioner in-charge of Accra Area Enforcement at GRA, Joseph Adjeikwei Annan, said the inspections targeted businesses suspected of selective issuance of VAT invoices, under declaration of taxes and other breaches of the country’s tax laws.

He said records retrieved from the companies would help determine possible tax losses to the state.

Mr Annan explained that preemptive assessments allowed GRA to estimate taxes but businesses failed to declare using available records.

“Once we see that what you are declaring falls short of what we establish, we move in quickly to conduct an audit,” he said.

Chinese receipts

Mr Annan described the issuance of receipts in Chinese at Bayu Villa as a violation of the Revenue Administration Act (RAA), saying the country’s official language for tax records remained English.

He cited Sections 20 and 27 of the RAA, which required taxpayers to maintain records such as receipts, invoices, vouchers and sales records in English to enable proper verification by GRA.

“But when you keep them in Chinese, how do we appreciate the records, it becomes useless to us,” Mr Annan said.

He further said that GRA had no issue with foreign nationals operating businesses in the country, but insisted that they must comply fully with the country’s tax laws.

“We are not against you doing business in Ghana. But please, let us abide by the laws of this country,” Mr Annan said.