Business News of Thursday, 1 December 2016

Source: Nii Lamkai Lawson

Ghana bags more than GHC10bn so far with trips

The Domestic Tax Revenue Division (DTRD) of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has so far mobilised more than ten billion Ghana cedis in tax collection through the deployment of the Total Revenue Integrated Processing System (TRIPS), so far this year.

This is against the background that even though the country wide roll out is still ongoing, the offices of the DTRD that are already using Total Revenue Integrated Processing System (TRIPS) to administer their taxpayers, account for about eighty four per cent of all tax revenue of the division.

Following the integration and automation of the process of the Domestic Tax Revenue Division (DTRD) of the GRA, most offices have adopted the Total Revenue Integrated Processing System (TRIPS) DEVELOPED by the Ghana Community Network Services Limited (GCNet) to automate the processes for assessing, filing and payment of various domestic tax forms such as Income Tax, PAYE, VAT, Withholding Tax, Gift Tax, etc.
The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) and the Ghana Community Network Services Limited (GCNet) boosted by the development have decided to introduce a Competition and Awards scheme to boost the full migration of all taxpayers onto Total Revenue Integrated Processing System (TRIPS) in order to create a uniform platform.
This is expected to encourage offices to accelerate the migration process, amidst the realisation that the introduction of the Total Revenue Integrated Processing System (TRIPS) roll out as a main processing system has marked a major milestone in the history of the Domestic Tax Revenue Division (DTRD) of the Ghana Revenue Authority.
With a SPONSORED price tag of GHC 25,000 from the Ghana Community Network Services Limited (GCNet) to be awarded every quarter to the winning implementing tax office to address logistic constraints, the move could signal the Domestic Tax Revenue Division taking full advantage of the opportunities that the deployment of the Total Revenue Integrated Payment System brings on board in helping to automate the processes for assessing, filing and payment of various domestic taxes.
These facts came to light during a day’s briefing and training session on the deployment of Total Revenue Integrated Processing System (TRIPS). It was jointly organised by GCNet and GRA for officials of the Tax and Customs Divisions.
According to the Commissioner of the Domestic Tax Revenue Division (DTRD), Mr. Kwasi Gyimah Asante the introduction of the competition would encourage hard work and good ethics and lauded GCNet & GRA for introducing the Competition and Awards scheme.
Mr. Gyimah Asante was optimistic the timely resolution of challenges would have significant impact on the turnaround time of the Ghana Revenue Authority in achieving its mandate in revenue mobilisation.

General Manager of Ghana Community Network Services Limited GCNet, Mr. Alwin Hoegerle noted that the partnership with the Domestic Tax Revenue Division of the GRA aligns with the core mandate of GCNet to improve revenue mobilisation through the deployment of efficient ICT enabled systems to significantly contribute to national development.

He explained the training session and the sponsorship of the award scheme was consistent with GCNet’s commitment not only to build capacity and provide logistics support but also to ensure the speedy migration of the Total Revenue Integrated Processing System (TRIPS) in all tax offices across the nation to guarantee speedy processing of tax returns and revenue mobilisation.