Accra, Jan. 19, GNA - The VAT Service exceeded its revenue target by 1.96 per cent last year although it fell short of the Excise target by 38.93 per cent.

Mr Anthony Ewereku Minlah, Commissioner of the Vat Service who disclosed this in Accra at the Service's Annual Dinner Dance and Awards Ceremony for 2007 on Friday attributed the success to the hard work and dedication to duty of staff.

Mr Minlah said at a stage the Service was apprehensive about the Excise target due to some extreme challenges, persistent encouragement by the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning that the total target was achievable spurred them on.

The Commissioner said 2007 saw the introduction of the VAT Flat Rate Scheme which although went well, there was the need to sustain one-on-one education to enable the public understand the scheme better and ensure that all eligible persons registered. Mr Minlah noted that 2008 would be a challenging year considering the introduction of the mobile phone talk tax, hence the service would enhance its monitoring of declarations from the telecommunication industry to generate maximum revenue.

Parliament, he said, might amend the VAT Act to pave way for the VAT Clearance Certificate to assist minimize revenue leakages, adding that the Service Charter that would spell out the responsibilities of both staff and registered businesses would also be launched soon to guide all deliberations.

According to him, the Ghana 2008 African Cup of Nations tournament called for extra vigilance to collect all revenue, saying 120 tertiary students have been recruited to support the Service with this drive. Mr Minlah stated that the Service would also work to improve its accommodation problems and ensure that their Adabraka LVO would be ready by April while the Team project would be completed by the end of the year.

He commended the Revenue Agencies Governing Board for their support and taxable persons for honouring their tax obligations. He pledged that the Service would work harder to increase cooperation with stakeholders and achieve its goal of mitigating the risks of revenue mobilization.

The Commissioner further urged the staff to continue the hard work to enable them to meet this year's target of 504,743,865.26 Ghana cedis. Professor George Djan Baffuor, a Deputy Minister of Finance commended VAT Service for the exceeding the target and urged them to work harder to achieve greater heights this year. He noted that government was also working to improve upon data systems in the country to enhance revenue mobilization. Prof. Baffour implored the Service to keep a close eye and deal with their officers who extort money from traders to deprive the state of the needed revenue.

Mr Harry Owusu, Executive Secretary of the Revenue Agencies Governing Board also said Service's achievement was an impressive turnover in the past three years. The overall best worker award went to Mr. Daniel Okaitey Nettey, who received at deep freezer and an Acer Laptop computer worth 810 Ghana cedis. Other award winners were Ban Kofi Nyarko Williams (sound system), Jeremiah Imbeah (Deep freezer), Bridget Ziema (Television set), Kingsley Konadu and Nathan Nettey who had consolation prizes. 19 Jan. 08