Improving Revenue Collection through Tax Audit Practice: The Case of Ghana Revenue Authority

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Date
2011-06-17
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Abstract
The principal source of a government’s revenue should normally be taxation, in Ghana this is often not the case. The country relies on foreign sources of finance namely foreign loans and aid due to its poor tax administration capacity and collection ability. To reverse this trend there is a serious need for revenue administration reform. As part of the reform an efficient and effective tax audit unit may be needed to enable the government to keep up with the increasing sophistication of business activity and tax evasion schemes. The main objective of the study is to find out whether tax audit practice plays a significant role in tax administration and to analyze the significance of tax audit in strengthening tax administration capacity, also to analyze the role and significance of tax audit in increasing tax revenue and to provide concrete suggestions to the issues relating to tax audit practice in Ghana based on the case study. The study was based on both qualitative and quantitative case study approaches. The Domestic Tax Revenue Division (DTRD) (Internal Revenue Service) of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) acted as a case in the study. The quantitative study involved primary data collection through a field survey and secondary data collection from the DTRD of the GRA. And the qualitative research method was considered as a means of gaining access to unquantifiable facts. The result of the study showed that Tax Audit is very essential in enhancing revenue generation and has a major part to play in tax administration in Ghana. Even though the employees in the Tax Audit unit have the necessary skills which enable them to perform their duties and responsibilities, it is recommended that there must be adequate short term and refresher training to keep them abreast with current trends of auditing and investigations and also the numerous amendments to the tax laws. In conclusion, an enhanced, expanded and well-resourced Tax Audit unit can help the nation in her quest to be self- sufficient in domestic revenue generation through taxation.
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A Thesis submitted to the Institute of Distance Learning, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Commonwealth Executive Masters in Business Administration, June, 2011
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