The Domestic Tax Revenue Division (DTRD) of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) mobilised an amount of GH¢ 24.4 billion in 2018, thus exceeding its target for the year.

This means an excess of GH¢ 850 million representing 3.5 per cent of planned collection target of GH¢ 23.5 billion.

Mr Kofi Nti, the Commissioner General of GRA, said the increase in domestic revenue collection was largely due to the public sensitization and deployment of GCNet’s Total Revenue Integrated Processing System (tripsTM) for the DTRD.

Mr Nti acknowledged the importance of intensifying education on the usage of tripsTM and urged staff to continue to use the system and report any challenges encountered for swift resolution to enhance user experience and improved revenue mobilisation.

“Even for 2018, when we faced considerable challenges, we were able to achieve a 16.4 percent growth over the 2017 collection. There is room for improvement,” he said.

Overall, domestic revenue generated and processed in 2018 through the tripsTM tax administration system stood at GH¢ 19.4 billion.

This represents a 30 per cent increase over the 2017 collection of GH¢ 15.4 billion.

Over the past five years, there has been a sustained increase in the domestic tax collection processed through (trips TM), from GH¢ 3 billion generated in 2014, GH¢ 9 billion in 2015 to almost GH¢ 12 billion in 2016.

Since the introduction of tripsTM for domestic tax collection, a total of GH¢ 55 billion has been collected.

Data on domestic tax revenue generation indicates that December 2018 posted the highest collection of GH¢ 3.1 billion, an all-time high, which was also twenty per cent higher than the December 2017 collection of GH¢ 2.6 billion.

The second highest monthly collection of GH¢ 2.3 billion in 2018 was recorded in June, representing a 62 per cent increase of GH¢ 1.4 billion over the same period in 2017.

The third highest monthly collection in 2018 was GH¢ 1.9 billion which showed a 26.5 per cent rise over the same period in 2017 which stood at GH¢ 1.57 billion. Except for January 2018, all collections recorded for all other months were in excess of GH¢ 1 billion.

Besides in 2018, by end of July collections had crossed GH¢ 10 billion mark, an improvement over the 2017 milestone which occurred in September.

These achievements were made possible with the migration of 69 GRA tax offices nationwide onto the trips TM system for the processing of taxes.

In 2018, GCNet supported GRA to complete the nation-wide migration of tax offices across the country onto the trips system to broaden the tax base and facilitate the issuance of Tax Identification Numbers (TINs). Over the period, over two million Tax Identification Numbers (TINs) have been issued with more than a million generated.

Return processing activity increased with 615,558 returns recorded in 2018 representing an 86 per cent increase compared to 2017 when 331,055 returns were recorded.

Mrs Aba Lokko, Communications Manager of GCNet, said GCNet remains committed to partnering GRA to realise its core mandate through technical support by deploying robust, time tested and proven e-applications that make processes seamless in the clearance value chain.

”In 2018, GCNet provided logistic support by donating some four hundred and fifty (450) laptops valued at $247,000.00 to the GRA through the Ministry of Finance to facilitate field operations to boost domestic revenue collection initiatives by officers of the Domestic Tax Revenue Division (DTRD), she said.

Source: GNA