A Chief Revenue Officer in charge of drawback at the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Sheila Vigbedor, has blamed the delays in the refund of duty drawback to exporters and manufacturers on improper documentation.
According to her, the exporters and manufacturers are solely to blame.
Citing the unwillingness to go through proper documentation and the use of unapproved routes as a major bottle neck in their ability to access their drawback claim, Madam Vigbedor blamed the exporters for the challenges in the system.
She explained that lack of genuine documentation among exporters and the manufacturers must be rectified to allow for prompt payment process to commence.
“Exporters do not want to go through the process of documentation, they are always in a hurry when get to the boarders. They always want their goods to go and some also do not want to use the approved routes where we have the GCNet automated system,” she lamented.
According to her, landing certificate was important for the GRA in processing of the drawback claims but some impoters have not followed proper procedure to make he process run smoothly .
“These documents must be duly signed and endorsed by the officers of both sides and attached to you documents before we can accept and begin the processes,” she said.
Meanwhile, Some local manufacturers and exporters earlier in an interview with Citi Business News threatened to hurl the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) and the Finance Ministry to court over what they claim are deliberate delays in the payment of their tax refunds under the duty drawback scheme.
GRA begin payments
According to the GRA, the government through the Ministry of Finance has released funds to be paid to all eligible exporters under the duty drawback scheme.
Speaking at a stakeholder’s consultation workshop on duty drawback organized by the Ghana Chamber of Commerce and Industries (GCCI), with support from the BUSAC fund, a Revenue Officer at Customs Division of the GRA, Ebenezer T. M. Ayettey said the authority is set to commence payment of all outstanding duty drawbacks due exporters on Tuesday July 5, 2016.
Govt debt to the chamber
Also, a research conducted by the Ghana Chamber of Commerce and Industry revealed that on average, government owed about 456, 289 Ghana cedis per individual company.
The highest amount owed to businesses is about 1,700,000 million Ghana cedis and the minimum amount is about 500 Ghana cedis.
The research also showed that on average payments could take about 10 months depending on follow ups in extreme cases; payment of refund could be made after 2 years while the shortest possible period is 5 months.
Despite the finding, the Ghana Chamber of Commerce and Industry, is impressing on its members who have been affected by the undue delays in the payment of their duty draw back claims to exercise restraint as the Chamber pushes for their concerns to be addressed.
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By: Norvan Acquah – Hayford/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana