The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has announced that it collected GH¢113.06 billion in tax revenue for the 2023 fiscal year, exceeding its revised target of GH¢109.19 billion by GH¢3.87 billion. This represents a nominal growth rate of 49.3% over the 2022 fiscal year and the highest tax-to-GDP ratio of 14.1% in the last six years.
The GRA Commissioner-General Dr Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah, attributed the performance to various measures taken by the Authority to enhance revenue mobilization. It mentions intensified compliance activities, effective classification and valuation of goods and improved monitoring of leakages.
He also highlighted the significant contribution of the extractive sector, especially the mining firms, which paid GH¢6.13 billion in corporate income tax, a 39.6% increase from 2022.
In addition to the favourable price of gold and the depreciation of the cedi by more than 40 % in 2023, mineral royalty payments showed an increase in sales in 2023, making taxpayers pay more in 2023 than in 2022.
Dr Owusu-Amoah explained that there was a nominal growth of 28.9 percent in domestic tax revenue and 38.4 percent in Customs revenue. He pointed out that the Domestic Tax Revenue Division (DTRD) collected a total tax revenue of GH¢53.28 billion in 2022, surpassing the target of GH¢51.75 billion.
This positive deviation amounted to GH¢1.53 billion.
Additionally, the Customs Division collected GH¢22.26 billion, exceeding the target of GH¢20.20 billion by GH¢2.06 billion.
For the Commissioner-General, the dedication of the staff, enhanced invigilation by the officers, and the utilization of technology were significant factors that contributed to the numbers exceeding the projected expectations.
“We cannot forget some of the electronic initiatives that we had implemented from the last quarter of 2022,” he said. Dr Owusu-Amoah added that “we are looking at being very heavy on technology going forward for 2023”.
He further added that the authority has made significant progress in implementing online tax filing and reducing the use of cheques for collections at the various GRA offices.
The Commissioner- General added that the implementation of the upfront VAT payment Act, which was passed in May 2023, significantly enhanced performance by generating GH¢173.89m in revenue.
Furthermore, the import VAT performance exceeded the target by 3.5% and experienced a remarkable growth of 53.3% throughout the year. The E-Levy, a tax imposed on electronic transactions, demonstrated an impressive year-on-year growth of 85.7%.
Dr Owusu-Amoah refuted allegations that the GRA is incapable of setting attainable targets and consistently surpasses its projections. He stressed that there has been notable advancement in tax collection.
“You will realize that when it comes to the Year-on-Year numbers there has been a significant increase, for instance from 2020 to 2021, growth in collections stood at 26.5 percent, which was the highest over the last 10 years” he added.
Dr Owusu-Amoah expressed his gratitude to the staff of GRA, the Ministry of Finance, and other stakeholders for their support and cooperation. He also encouraged taxpayers to uphold their tax responsibilities and adhere to the tax regulations.
The GRA assures that it remains committed to reaching the revenue goal of GH¢137.1 billion by 2024, reflecting a 21.3% increase compared to the collection in 2023. The authority plans to implement a range of strategies and reforms to enhance tax administration and encourage voluntary compliance.
