By Kodjo Adams, GNA
Accra, Aug. 22, GNA – The Ghana Revenue
Authority (GRA) Taskforce on Thursday confiscated assorted beverage products
without Excise Tax Stamps affixed on them in Accra.
The products are red bull energy drink, coca
cola zero sugar, canada dry drink (beer), and reckers pils, a foreign alcoholic
drink.
The products were confiscated from the Royal
Love Enterprise in Okaishie in the central business district of Accra and an
unnamed warehouse during a monitoring and enforcement excise to check the level
of tax compliance with the Excise Tax Stamp policy.
The Excise Tax Stamp Act, 2013 (Act 873)
required that excise tax stamps shall be affixed on specified excisable
products manufactures in Ghana or imported into the country.
The implementation of the Excise Tax Stamp
policy started on January 1, 2018, with enforcement at the points of entry
while point of sale enforcement started on March 1, 2018.
The importance of the tax stamp policy was
to enable the Authority to monitor the exact quantities declared by
manufacturers and importers for tax purposes and ensure that the products are
not counterfeited to protect the health of consumers and help generate more
revenue for the nation.
Mr Kwabena Apau Anto, the Chief Revenue
Officer, Excise Division of GRA, at a media briefing after the exercise, said
the exercise was to educate the public on the launch of the Authority’s mobile
application to authenticate tax stamps on beverage products and the need to
ensure compliance.
He explained that the application dubbed
“Ghana Tax Stamp Authenticator” was to help consumers to detect the genuineness
of products sold in retail shops.
The application allows the consumers to scan
and validate the excise tax stamps affixed on excisable products such as
alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages and tobacco products.
He said GRA has noticed that, there were
many imported products that were not affixed with tax stamps and that there is
the need to streamline the system and prevent revenue leakages.
Touching on the seized products, Mr Anto
said after 31 days if the owners fail to report to the Authority’s headquarters
to explain why they failed to have the stamps on their products, they would
forfeit them.
Additionally, he said, the Authority would
trace the manufacturers of the seized products to ascertain why the products
were not affixed with tax stamps and cautioned retailers not to display their
wares or products for sale without tax stamps on them.
GNA
