The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has warned the public against assaulting its officers during tax compliance operations, saying perpetrators could face the full force of the law.

The warning follows an incident at Jamila Homes Decor where GRA officers conducting an intelligence-led compliance check were allegedly refused entry and assaulted.

According to the GRA official, one of the officers allegedly had his identification card broken during the incident.

He said he was subsequently asked to intervene and help resolve the situation.

“Yesterday, some of our officers were sent here to Jamal Homes to carry out an intelligence-led compliance check and the information we got at the office was that they were refused entry and were assaulted. In fact, one of our officers lost the ID. It was broken,” he said.

The official disclosed that the affected officers have reported the matter to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service.

“Our officers have already put down their statement at the CID office,” he said.

He added that a representative of the business will also be invited by the CID to provide a statement to assist investigations.

The GRA official further said that the authority has taken records from the premises for further examination.

“We have picked their records and we are taking it to the office and then go through it and, I don't know, like we always do, if there's a need for a pre-emptive assessment to be raised, we'll do so. And if there's the need for future audit to be conducted, that will surely be done.”

The official stressed that GRA officers operate under the authority of the Commissioner-General and warned that attacks on officers would not be tolerated.

“When you attack or assault any of our officers, you should know that you are attacking the Commissioner-General, and we'll never sit aloof and allow this to happen. We will come at you with equal measure.” 

“We will come at you with the full force of the law,” GRA warned offenders.

He urged the trading public to cooperate with revenue officers, stressing that the GRA remains committed to a customer-centred approach.

“We say we are customer-centric. We try to be friendly to our taxpayers because I always say that once the last taxpayer folds up, we all become unemployed.”

He explained that the authority's interest is to support businesses to remain operational and compliant so they could continue paying taxes.

“But when we come to you and you try to go against the law to the extent that you attack us, then obviously we will also come at you with the full force of the law,” he said.

The official also warned that assaulting a revenue officer could have serious legal consequences, particularly under the Revenue Administration Act.

“By law, if you go into a criminal act, assault is a criminal offence. But when you come down to the Revenue Administration Act, if you go to Section 85 of the Act, that is even more serious. The punishment is up to 20 years imprisonment; that is the maximum,” he noted.

He, however, stressed that the taxpayer involved will be given an opportunity to present their version of events before the police determine the next steps.

“We have the version of what happened yesterday from our officers. Of course, it is fair to allow the taxpayer to also give a side of the story.”

The incident is expected to be investigated by the police to determine the next action.