The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) is to streamline and improve its online filing system to enable taxpayers to file their taxes with ease across multiple devices.
The Reverend Ammishaddai Owusu Amoah, Commissioner-General of the GRA, announced in a speech read on his behalf during the sod cutting for the construction of the Authority’s Information Technology (IT) Training Centre in Tema.
Rev. Amoah said using third party data as well as GRA’s transactional data would be able to pre-populate returns and offer pre-filing certifications to improve the accuracy of submissions.
He said as of July 1, 2021, the GRA was completely cashless and taxpayers now make payments using the various digital channels provided at the Banks.
He added that GRA also embarked on a campaign to drive the adoption of digital payments for Vehicle Income Tax by commercial vehicle owners, saying “currently a significant number of commercial vehicle owners are paying their quarterly VIT obligations by mobile money using the *222 functionality on the Ghana.gov payment platform.”
The Commissioner-General noted that the cashless initiative had so far achieved close to a 100 per cent reduction in dishonoured cheques and a significant reduction in traffic at the offices.
He said the Authority was also poised to deploy systems to enhance tax administration of electronic services in Ghana such as web-hosting, online shopping, and online betting, among others in addition to rent tax systems.
Rev Amoah further disclosed that GRA would use web analytics, customer relationship systems and other digital tools to manage and serve the taxpayer across multi-channels be it by phone, social media, chat boxes or digital assistants.
GRA, he said, uses social media, SMS, innovative advertising in addition to traditional media platforms to create awareness, adding that it was evident that the Authority’s digital transformation would require various specific skills ranging from programming, analytics, configuration, testing and systems integration.
He said the IT Training Centre when completed and operationalized in November 2022 would serve as an incubation centre for innovation and training for staff providing fast turnaround business solutions to meet the ever-changing expectations of taxpayers.
