The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has closed down the DE ICON event centre located in East Legon for not registering to pay tax.
The swoop followed a tip-off to the management of GRA that the business was operating without registering with the Authority.
Members of the GRA’s Debt Management, Compliance and Enforcement team locked up the facility after the GRA verified that the business was not registered.
A Chief Revenue Officer with the Debt Management, Compliance and Enforcement team of the GRA, Nathaniel Tetteh disclosed that the owners of the centre were aware of the tax laws and had in their possession tax forms for over five months.
“Today, we have advised them to go and complete the registration process and that would warrant the opening of the facility for them to operate,” Mr Tetteh said.
He also warned businesses that do not tax to ensure that they registered and paid the appropriate taxes.
The GRA is currently conducting an extensive nationwide audit and “mystery shopping” across the country to ensure that businesses are tax compliant.
ECG busts DE ICON for illegal connection
It will be recalled that in August last month, officials of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) found that the DE ICON event centre was operating with an electricity meter bypass/illegal connection.
When officials of the ECG visited the place on Monday, August 8, 2022, they observed that security lights and other electricals were functioning, including air-conditioners and fridges among other items without authorization. The power plant at the centre was off, but the facility had no other secondary source of power.
According to the manager in charge of revenue protection and technical investigations of the ECG, Ing. Ishmael Oku, “a rough calculation of the power consumption of the facility is pegged at about GH¢40,000”.
He said the owners of the facility will be served with an illegal connection notice and an investigation will be carried out.
“The meter in the premises [also] has domestic billing, but it’s being used for commercial purposes. We would investigate this to establish how they came by this meter,” he added.
Meanwhile, the GRA has conducted a swoop exercise on two Chinese Companies for non-issuance of VAT Invoices to customers at Okaishie, Accra.
The two entities, Zengsi Investment Company and Hua Feng Trading Company deal in the wholesale of ladies’ and children’s footwear.
The exercise was led by GRA’s Accra Central Area Enforcement Manager, Mr Joseph Adjeikwe Annan.