VAT SERVICE TAKES ACTION AGAINST 21 COMPANIES (SPREAD)

The VAT Service in Tema has initiated distress action against 21 companies in the metropolis to retrieve over GH¢ 710,037.03 owed the service.
The sectors earmarked for closure included restaurants, customs clearing agencies, bonded warehouses, transport companies, steel companies and cold stores.
Known as the Enforcement Debt Management team, the VAT officials, comprising headquarters and Tema staff, locked up premises of those companies which could not afford to pay their debts, while the management of some, on seeing the officials, rushed to the VAT offices to pay up.
Briefing the media during the exercise, the leader of the team, Mr Henry Brandford Sam, explained that VAT was time bound and not for any individual to decide to pay at his own pace.
He said the action was in accordance with Section 34 of the VAT Service Act 546, 1998 and also an offence under Section 62(2) to obstruct when action was being brought against the offender.
The 21 companies, he said, were the first batch shortlisted for the exercise.
Mr Sam said the indebted companies had accumulated their debts since 2008 and had persistently refused to respond to several demand notices from the service and personal approaches.
Mr Sam said the monies were meant for the VAT and the state because clients of companies made direct payments which were supposed to be paid promptly to the service.
He said it was unfortunate that officials of the service should go after clients before they cleared their indebtedness, adding that the exercise would go on to ensure that companies paid their quota to the VAT Service.
He expressed the view that the service had given the companies sufficient education to enable them understand the need to pay taxes and that by going after them, the state would lose part of the monies needed to be collected through investment in logistics for the exercise.
Mr Sam appealed to companies on the next list to consider honouring their tax obligations immediately to avoid embarrassment.
The first place the team went was the Traffix Ltd Restaurant and Bar and a
director of the company, Mr G.B. Ahu, resisted the action of the service.
Though he was informed of his indebtedness to the tune of GH¢28,831,12, he insisted that the action was to kill small businesses.
The officials educated him on the need to pay back what clients had paid as VAT on services rendered them.
Trucks were unloading frozen fish at the Greenwich Coldstores International at the Fishing Harbour when the team got there.
All indications were that the managers of the company were not prepared to pay the GH¢29,100.43 owed the VAT Service as far back as August 13, 2008.
The cold store was closed after allowing the trucks to unload the fish they had brought for storage.
Riepco Ltd , a bonded warehousing company in the Industrial Area in Tema was asked to settle its indebtedness of GH¢31,499.02.
The Managing Director of the company, Mr Charles Darko explained that he was expecting some bulk cargo belonging to the Electricity Company and the Ghana Water Company Limited and, therefore, pleaded for time to settle the indebtedness.
One of the defaulters, Wahome Steel Ltd, which was listed for closure had closed down and was not in operation.
Companies which rushed to the offices of the VAT Service to clear their indebtedness included a transport company, Atlas Ltd., and the Tropical Freight International Ltd, both in Tema.