The Ghana Revenue Authority(GRA) has declared its intention to resort to more engagements with individuals and organisations who are not able to meet their tax obligations at the ports instead of confiscating and subsequently auctioning their goods.

The Assistant Commissioner, at the Large Taxpayer Office of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Dr. Martin Yamborigya said this will offer more individuals and organisations the opportunity to have their goods cleared while increasing tax revenue for the country.

Speaking on Joy FM's Super Morning Show on Wednesday, Mr. Yamborigya noted that, "there are people who bring goods to the port. They are required by law to pay within a certain period and normally when you don't pay, the goods are supposed to be confiscated. Instead of using this punishment approach of confiscating and auctioning the goods, we'll rather encourage them and find out how they can pay."

He was contributing to discussions on the show on how GRA intends to hit its 2022 tax revenue target.

The Assistant Commissioner outlined a number of measures the authority adopted in 2021 which helped them achieve their target for that year. He said the measures included Penalty and Interest waivers for owners of confiscated goods at the port. He stressed that this approach helped the authority raise about GH₵400 million.

Dr. Yamboriga stated that importers who could not fulfill their tax obligations at the ports within the stipulated time will be offered flexible modes of payments as an alternative.

He believes with this approach, more people will be able to pay and clear their goods instead of leaving them at the warehouse.

"When the goods are confiscated they are auctioned below their value. With that, the person would have to lose and the government would lose as well. So within a reasonable period, we'll offer the importer enough time to pay by installments. If he is not able to meet the payment demand within the extended grace period, we'll then proceed to confiscate the goods," he added.

The Ghana Revenue Authority has set GH₵80.3 billion as target for the 2022 revenue collection year.

This was announced by the Finance Ministry. The Authority, according to the Ministry is expected to meet this year’s target just like it did in the mobilization of the 2021 target where it was able to collect a little over GH¢57.32 billion as against a target of GH¢57.02 billion.