Vat Stakeholders

THE Ringway Estate Local VAT Office (LVO) has cautioned traders who deliberately issue dud cheques as payment for their tax liabilities to the service to desist from such acts.
“Traders should take note that it is an offence under section 313 (A) of Police Act 29/60 to issue dud cheque,” it said.
A statement issued by the LVO at a meeting with some of their prominent traders in Accra yesterday noted that “traders who have issued dud cheques to the LVO have been enlisted hence no cheque will be accepted from them”.
It advised them to present only bankers draft or bank approved cheques when making payments of their tax liabilities to the LVO and called on all registered traders who had issued a dud cheque to the LVO to retrieve it within two weeks.
The management of the LVO appealed to all registered traders to be cautious when writing cheques for payment of tax liabilities to avoid falling foul of the law pertaining to the issuance of dud cheques.
The newly appointed Head of the Ringway LVO, Mr Anthony Ackah Mensah, who formally introduced himself to the traders, entreated them to call on him anytime they had a problem.
“If there is any assistance that you need within the confines of the law, I am ready to assist you,” he said, and advised them to erase the perception that heads of public services were not approachable.
He stated that any registered trader who wished to cease, transfer, sell or change the location of their businesses should endeavour to notify them in writing within 30 days as required by section 7 of the VAT Act 546.
“In failing to do so, the LVO will consider the trader to be transacting business and will therefore be required to account for the taxes collected,” he said.
To avoid the payment of a fine, imprisonment or both for not filling and paying returns, he appealed to them to report any change in their business to the LVO.
Mr Mensah further advised them to display VAT Certificates on their business premises, issue VAT invoice to customers after business transactions and keep proper business records and produce them for inspection.
The LVO Supervisor for Debt Management, Mr Tony Dekagbe, took the traders through some basic rules to follow when claiming their Input Tax Credits (ITC).
He said no ITC could be claimed after a period of three years, noting that ITC must always be backed by a valid invoice or customer entry documents.
According to him, a taxable person could claim an ITC by deducting the amount from the Output Tax due on supplies made and revealed that the VAT/National Health Insurance Law (NHIL) had appropriate columns for entering both input and output tax.
He said any trader who was dissatisfied with the decision of an officer of the service other than the commissioner may lodge an objection with the commissioner within 30 days.
The Accountant for the LVO, Mr Joseph Fiadzo, also explained to the traders how they could file the VAT returns, write cheques and avoid common mistakes.
That, according to him, was to equip them with knowledge on accounting for VAT collected and to encourage them on tax compliance, stating that the LVO sold invoices only to traders under its jurisdiction.