The enforcement team of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has shutdown the Labone, Spintex, Atomic roundabout and Weija branches of Palace Mall for not complying with the authority’s E-VAT Invoicing system.
For months, GRA has been taken it upon themselves to move around major shops in Accra to check their records concerning the electronic Value Added Tax system.
Several shops were found wanting and closed down.
According to GRA, a number of selected shops have deliberately refused to issue VAT invoices electronically when customers walk in to make purchases.
It added that the failure of these shops to abide by its directive shows that they are under-declaring tax.
Addressing the media, the Area Manager of GRA’s Accra central office, Joseph Annan, warned managers of the shops not to tamper with the Commissioner’s seal as that may worsen their situation.
“We are on the move and businesses should do the right thing to avoid closure,” he said.
At the Labone branch of Palace Mall, managers of the facility locked themselves inside the shop while observing officials from GRA who were embarking on the enforcement exercise.
Efforts by the task force to get them out of the premises proved futile.
The entrance to the mall has since been sealed.
Meanwhile, the Weija branch of China Mall has also been shut down, bringing to five, the total number of China Mall branches closed down in the last 24 hours.
The GRA has emphasized that they will not rest on their oars until all the initial 50 selected companies are integrated into the E-VAT system.
The Authority rolled out the e-invoicing system for VAT collectors from October 1, 2022, to 600 large taxpayers that generate more than 90 percent of VAT revenue.
Unlike the manual system, the e-invoicing system allows the GRA to monitor live transactions in companies where it has been deployed, thereby making it impossible for taxpayers to either under-invoice or avoid the payment of VAT.