The Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service is now setting up the docket to start the prosecution of all defaulting businesses charged for various Value Added Tax (VAT) breaches, according to a statement from the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA).

This comes after hardship operations that were carried out throughout the holiday season to compel VAT compliance as part of initiatives to increase the state's revenue collection.

According to Joseph Annan, the Head of Enforcement Unit at the GRA's Accra Central, offenders will be sent to court to answer for their crimes.

He promised that the GRA and CID would collaborate closely to provide positive role models that would discourage business owners from engaging in tax evasion.

“Currently, the CID is putting together a docket and once that is done, it will be forwarded to our legal unit for possible prosecution”, he affirmed.

According to Mr. Annan, violators who responded to the GRA's call after being invited do so in compliance with the law.

He insisted that the authority would uphold its obligations and implement the tax rules rigorously and fairly in order to collect the intended funds for national development.

He claimed that the GRA's primary goal is to collect taxes rather than idly squander money and effort.

According to him, this is essential to how the GRA functions, which is why there are penalties in place to make sure that violators have a chance to mend their ways.

“Those that we invited to our offices are complying. We have raised our assessment and all of them have paid in accordance with the law”, he said.

The GRA, as part of its operations to improve revenue collection commenced a series of exercises that saw the authority visit quarry sites in the country to enforce the VAT laws.

The authority in December, 2022 during the festive season also embarked on an exercise in the tourism and hospitality enforce the E-VAT laws.