Accra, Aug. 24, GNA - The Value Added Tax (VAT) Service on Thursday closed down a number of companies for failing to pay VAT. Mr Henry Bradford Sam, Assistant Revenue Officer of the Service conducted newsmen round some offices of defaulters namely; Skyy Colour Laboratory at Caprice; Lims Limited; Sitona Enterprise; Charles A Asmah Limited; Asante and Hi Uscher Printing Press and Photo Studio.

Lims Limited owed more than 21 million cedis; Sitona Enterprise owed two million cedis; C.A. Asmah Limited owed more than 12 million cedis; Asante and Hi Uscher Printing Press owed more than 17 million cedis and Skyy Colour Lab owed 2.6 million cedis.

While three of the companies gave a cash amount to defray their indebtedness, C.A. Asmah made a part payment and signed an undertaking to pay the balance on Tuesday, August 29 2006.

Mr Sam called on clients to regularly honour their tax obligations to avoid the closure of their shops.