GRA arrests China Mall officials in E-VAT crackdown

The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has arrested officials of three China Mall branches after undercover checks allegedly revealed sales transactions that were kept off its approved electronic tax invoicing platform.

The operation targeted outlets at Ashaiman, Weija and Nsawam, where revenue officers posed as ordinary shoppers, bought goods and subsequently checked whether the transactions had been captured on the Authority’s Electronic VAT (E-VAT) system.

The checks reportedly revealed discrepancies, with some purchases missing from the GRA’s records and receipts issued outside its approved invoicing arrangement.

The Head of the GRA’s Revenue Protection Unit, Wisdom Kofi Xetor, said the Authority was investigating the suspected breaches to determine the scale of possible revenue losses.

He said the findings raised concerns that sales had been deliberately diverted from the official system, adding that the GRA intended to pursue prosecution if deliberate tax evasion was established.

“We made purchases and went through the transactions. After that, we verified whether the transactions had been captured on our system, and we discovered that some of them had not been reflected,” he said.

Mr Xetor said the exercise covered the three branches and warned that those found culpable could face prison terms of up to five years.

The arrests form part of the GRA’s efforts to tighten tax enforcement and prevent businesses from concealing taxable transactions through unauthorised invoicing arrangements.

Under the Electronic VAT system, VAT-registered businesses issue receipts through software approved by the GRA or integrate their existing invoicing platforms with the Authority’s system. The arrangement enables the GRA to monitor taxable sales and improve the accuracy of VAT reporting.

The E-VAT system is not a new tax but an electronic mechanism for recording VAT transactions. The GRA says it provides businesses with an approved invoicing option at no cost and allows customers to verify receipts through security features, including QR codes and electronic signatures.

The legal consequences depend on the nature of the breach. Under the Value Added Tax Act, 2025 (Act 1151), a person convicted of knowingly evading tax may face a fine of between two and three times the tax evaded, imprisonment for between two and five years, or both. Separate provisions cover failures to issue proper tax invoices and interference with certified invoicing systems.