The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) Taskforce has locked up the offices of Grid Petroleum Ghana Limited and Sonnidom Petroleum Limited for defaulting in petroleum taxes and levies.

Grid Petroleum Ghana Limited is said to owe the GRA to the tune of ¢1.25 million, while Sonnidom Petroleum Limited is indebted to the Authority an amount of ¢862,702.13.

The Chief Revenue Officer, Debt Management Compliance and Enforcement Unit of GRA, Nathaniel Okai Tetteh, made this known in an interview with the media after a special exercise christened: “VAT Distress Action”.

The exercise saw unannounced visits to the companies to collect outstanding debts from recalcitrant taxpayers of the Authority.

According to Mr Tetteh, the exercise was necessary as efforts for discussions and negotiations with the companies to pay their outstanding taxes to the Authority has proved futile.

He said the locked-up companies have 10-days to visit the Authority’s Head Office and settle their debts to avoid further actions like auctioning their assets.

He further stated that the GRA would go after companies like Santol Limited, Life Petroleum, Delma Company Limited and Petra Energy that owed the Authority huge sums of money.

The Chief Revenue Officer also said the exercise was to enforce tax compliance and improve the Authority’s revenue generation.

It also forms part of the GRA’s comprehensive national tax campaign to encourage more Ghanaians to honour their tax obligations to enable the government to meet its domestic revenue targets, increase social intervention policies and accelerate development across the country.

The Authority, in September 2019, launched a task force dubbed: “Operation Collect, Name and Shame,” aimed at collecting overdue taxes and the names of recalcitrant businesses were published in the media and asked to settle their debts.