Ghana has not lost GH¢3.26 billion - Ghana Revenue Authority

The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) says the country has not lost GH¢3.26 billion as reported in the 2021 Auditor General's report.

According to the GRA the said amount, which was Energy Sector Levies, was not included in the assessment conducted by the Audit Service in May 2022.

Mrs. Florence Asante, the Assistant Commissioner, Communication and Public Affairs of the GRA, in a statement, explained the circumstance leading to the money being tagged “unaccounted”.

She said the GRA furnished the CAGD with provisional revenue figures for 2021 (GH¢60.69 billion) in March 2022, including Energy Sector Levies totaling GH¢3.2 billion. He added: “In May 2022, the Audit Service conducted an audit of revenue collected by GRA in 2021 and arrived at a figure of (GH¢57.43 billion).”

However, this figure did not take into consideration the Energy Sector Levies that GRA reports on such as Energy Debt Service, Energy Debt Recovery, Power Generation, and Sanitation and Pollution levy.

Mrs. Asante said: “These levies totaling (GH¢3.2 billion) were omitted from the Audit report even though the figures were provided,” adding that GRA, therefore, reiterates that no revenue is missing.

She said, as explained earlier by Dr. John Kumah, the Deputy Minister of Finance, the differences in data generated by different agencies did not necessarily show a loss of revenue to the Government.

The Auditor General noted in its 2021 report that while GRA and the Ministry of Finance reported a total tax revenue of GH¢57.43 billion, the records of the Controller and Accountant General Department showed a total tax revenue of GH¢60 billion.

It, therefore, said that GH¢3.26 billion was unaccounted for between the three institutions.

Providing details, the Auditor General noted that Direct and Indirect taxes reported by CAGD amounted to GH¢27,709,806,120 and GH¢32,979,232,570 respectively in the Government Accounts.

It noted that the amount, compared with GRA reported tax revenue of GH¢27.6 billion and GH¢29.8 billion for direct and indirect taxes respectively, resulted in an overstatement of tax revenue of GH¢3.26 billion