Aflao (V/R), Jan. 9, GNA - The Value Added Tax (VAT) Service says it is doing well in the Ketu District as payment from registered businesses keeps increasing year after year. It, however, observed that it was in a tough battle with regard to compliance among businesses deemed qualified under the registration threshold. Mr Nicholas Selormey, Head of Aflao VAT Service Satellite Station, said this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Aflao on Friday.

"Voluntary compliance is still a problem with newly qualified traders, who are reluctant to register to collect VAT," he stated. Mr Selormey said education to sensitise the new traders was underway alongside distribution of registration forms to them. He said the Service was taking steps to do compulsory registration or prosecute the unwilling ones if need be. Mr Selormey said despite the encouraging performance of registered traders the Service carried out routine invigilation exercise, coded control Verification (CV) to examine records of traders to determine whether figures fed to the Service were correct. He said currently the Service's four major customers in the area, Diamond Cement Ghana Limited (DCGL), CEPS Restaurant, Linedidem Trading Agency, and Ghana Stores were undergoing such random performance regulation exercise.

Mr Selormey said the exercise was not based on suspicion but an appraisal that sometimes detected mistakes in the records. He said such appraisals had led to some of the companies having their assessments raised. The Aflao based Portland cement producer, DCGL, which imports clinker, the main raw material from Togo was the VAT Services biggest customer in the District but he did not state the company's percentage contribution on the list of customers.