BOYCOTT PRODUCTS WITHOUT TAX STAMP-GRA URGES CONSUMERS

The Ghana Revenue Authority, GRA, has urged Ghanaians to boycott any excisable product on the market that does not have the Tax Stamp embossed on it as a means of protest against tax evasion by the manufacturers. 

Additionally, the GRA has warned manufacturers, importers, distributors or retailers of any such products to take advantage of the various incentives including the Tax Amnesty being granted for non-payment of tax to redeem themselves immediately before the Authority complies strictly with its tax enforcement mandate.

 The Commissioner General of the GRA, Emmanuel Kofi Nti, who made the call in Kumasi at a media interaction on the Tax Stamp emphasized, that 'the Excise Tax Stamp is not a new tax regime but one which law, Act 873, was enacted by Parliament in 2013.' 

Mr. Kofi Nti mentioned alcoholic drinks, bottled water, carbonated soft drinks and cigarette as some of the notable products subject to excisable tax hence the mandatory requirement for the producers to affix the Tax Stamp on their packaging materials before sale. 

The policy, he stressed, 'covers these products locally produced or imported', the Commissioner General stressed.

 According to him, the Tax Stamp administration is an innovation by the GRA to ensure manufacturers of such goods pay the appropriate taxes to the state. 

The GRA’s Commissioner General insisted that the Tax Stamp policy has come to stay and warned particularly local manufacturers who have adopted the wait and see attitudes towards compliance to advise themselves. 

Mr. Kofi Nti explained that the Authority has since January of this year, being carrying out public education on the law and the need for voluntary compliance. 

This phase also involves officials of the GRA asking retail and distribution outlets to remove all affected goods without the Stamp from their shelves for the producers to affix the Tax Stamp without the application of the prescribed legal sanctions.

 This phase is to end very soon. Mr. Kofi Nti disclosed that the 2^nd phase which will soon be carried out, will be about the seizure of all non-compliant products from the market with the manufacturers or importers becoming liable for prosecution that could lead to a fine in addition to payment of the appropriate tax plus a fine of 300 per cent, a jail term of five years or both. 

After the media interaction, Technical Advisors to the Commissioner General led a team of the GRA and the media to the Kumasi Mall in a followed up on an earlier exercise during which the managers of Shoprite and The Game were directed to remove products without the Tax Stamp from the shelves. 

During the visit, it was realized that while some of the manufacturers had complied with the earlier directive and fixed the Tax Stamp on the products, a substantial quantity of the products still did not have the Stamp and were therefore removed from the shelves. 

At the Ababio Shopping Centre at Amakom, no product covered under the law had the Tax Stamp fixed on it. 

The Manager was directed to immediately see the GRA for the Stamp or risk facing the consequences. 

The Team’s last port of call was at Breman where they visited the premises of the Obibini Blackman’s Distilleries, producers of the Brukutu Ginger Bitters and the Zet bottled water to find out the compliance level.

 However, on their arrival, they were told by some people around believed to be workers, that the company was not complying with the law.