The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) is set to deploy its Integrated Tax Administration System (ITAS) to enhance taxpayer services, strengthen compliance, and enable more effective use of data. The system will bring key aspects of the country's tax administration onto a single digital platform. ITAS is part of GRA's continued data transformation in line with international standards. The Commissioner of the Domestic Tax Revenue Division, Dr. Martin Kolbil Yamborigya, announced this during the UK-Ghana Chamber of Commerce and PwC Ghana's Quarterly Tax Dialogue Series.
ITAS will standardise processes across GRA offices, covering registration, filing, payment, and taxpayer accounting, as well as compliance and risk management, audits, objections and appeals, exemptions, refund processing, debt management, and investigations. The system will offer self-service account activation, digital submission of applications and enquiries, automated workflows, online tracking of requests, and risk-based audits. Taxpayers will also be able to authorise staff or tax consultants to act on their behalf. This move aims to reduce paperwork and automate processes to improve service delivery.
To strengthen tax administration, ITAS will be linked to several national databases and platforms, including the Integrated Customs Management System, the Office of the Registrar of Companies, the Social Security and National Insurance Trust, the Bank of Ghana, Ghana.gov, the Lands Commission, and the National Identification Authority. Dr. Yamborigya urged businesses and taxpayers to embrace the system, noting that GRA's goal is to reduce paperwork and automate processes to improve service delivery.
Some ITAS capabilities are already operational, while additional features, including greater automation and pre-population of taxpayer information, will be progressively rolled out as implementation advances. Beyond ITAS, the GRA outlined other digital initiatives aimed at improving compliance and broadening the tax net. One such initiative is the electronic invoicing system, which digitises the issuance and validation of invoices, debit notes, and credit notes between suppliers and customers.
The electronic invoicing system authenticates invoices in real-time, allowing GRA to validate transactions almost instantly. The system aims to eliminate invoice forgery, reduce false input VAT claims, lower audit costs, and improve compliance data for risk profiling. Dr. Yamborigya explained that e-invoicing is just an invoicing system and not a payment system. The benefits of e-invoicing for businesses include a fairer tax environment, simplified VAT returns, faster refunds, lower compliance costs, and better record-keeping.
The GRA also highlighted the Sentinel project, which seeks to improve taxation of digital transactions. The initiative is a digital tax collection and monitoring system aimed at enhancing digital tax transparency, improving VAT and levy collection, and streamlining cross-border digital transactions. Under the system, VAT is disclosed and collected at the point of payment through participating payment platforms. The Authority also highlighted the Modified Taxation Scheme for informal sector taxpayers whose annual turnover falls below the prescribed threshold, now increased to GH¢750,000.
Dr. Yamborigya addressed concerns about VAT refunds, explaining that VAT is designed to be a tax on the final consumer and not on business input. He noted that the refund mechanism protects VAT neutrality, supports exporters and businesses with persistent input credits, improves cash flow, and strengthens confidence in the tax system. To qualify for VAT refunds, businesses must meet certain conditions, including generating excess input VAT, being exporters with significant input VAT, or making zero-rated supplies. Dr. Yamborigya encouraged businesses to maintain proper documentation and reconcile records consistently to ensure smooth VAT refund processing.
Key points
- The Ghana Revenue Authority is deploying the Integrated Tax Administration System to improve taxpayer services and strengthen compliance.
- The system will be linked to several national databases and platforms to enhance tax administration.
- The GRA also outlined other digital initiatives, including electronic invoicing and the Sentinel project, aimed at improving compliance and broadening the tax net.
