The Compliance and Enforcement Unit of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has locked up warehouses belonging to CM Super Plaza, operators of China Mall branches at Spintex Road and Atomic Roundabout, over failure to comply with tax registration requirements.

The action follows the company’s failure to register and onboard the electronic tax invoicing system as required by the GRA.

According to the Accra Area Manager of Enforcement and Compliance at the GRA, Joseph Annan, the company had earlier been issued a warning to complete the registration process, but failed to comply.

The operation saw GRA officials inspect the tax records of CM Super Plaza after the company failed to onboard the electronic tax system.

Mr Annan explained that sealing the warehouses was a partial enforcement measure to give the company a one-week grace period to resolve the issue and comply with the tax requirements.

“We are compelled to apply some human face to our work because of certain considerations, and hence we agreed to seal off only the warehouses so the retail outlet can still be in operation for a grace period of one week, after which they are expected to ratify whatever technical challenge they have with onboarding the electronic tax invoicing system.

“If we return after that period and they have not done the needful, then we have no option but to restrict access to the place and lock up the entire facility,” he warned.

A similar action was taken at the Atomic branch of the company, where GRA officials discovered that the facility had also not registered with the Authority.

The GRA said it will conduct an audit to determine the tax liabilities of the two facilities.

Management of the two branches declined to comment to the media during the operation.