The Chief Revenue Officer of the Agona Swedru Small Taxpayer Office (STO) of Ghana Revenue Authority, Mr. Leslie Mark-Hansen has assured taxpayers in the area that they would continue to provide their customers with excellent services.

Mr. Mark-Hansen stated this at a Tax Education Forum organized for their customers in the Effutu Municipality.

The Chief Executive said aside of offering quality service to their customers, there was the need for them to pay their taxes to ensure that Ghanaians live a better life, adding that, it is an offence for people to refuse paying their taxes.

Mr. Mark-Hansen told the gathering, made up of hotels operators, contractors, landlords, small and medium scale business operators, transport owners and teachers, that the Effutu Assembly has given them a place to open a branch of the STO in Winneba, and that, work on the project will be commence soon.

He said the new branch will go a long way to ease travelling problems customers go through before paying their taxes at Agona Swedru and Kasoa.

Mr. Danso Ntiamoah, Administrator and Mr. Amuzu Queye VAT Officer at STO in Agona Swedru took participants through topics including, Services the STO’s offers, obligations of a Small Taxpayer, Structures of STO, and Benefits Taxpayers derive from STO’s.

According to Mr. Ntiamoah, all taxpayers classified under STO are required to meet their responsibilities under the law, which includes maintenance of good records, submission of returns by due date, payment of all taxes due, making records available for examination and informing their STO of material change in business.

He said taxpayers would enjoy improved function-based structures and processes that have been put in place at the STO’s, such as improved service delivery, reduced tax compliance cost, improved business processes, backed by Information Communication Technology (ICT), and quality of customer records.

The Effutu Municipal Chief Executive, Nii Ephraim, who chaired the programme, thanked the organizers for the forum and appealed to them to periodically organize such programmes to remind the people on the need to honour their tax obligations.

The participants appealed to the Assembly and the STO to educate their revenue collectors and taskforce members to respect the rights of the people and avoid confrontations when discharging their duties.