-As it lunches Campaign to boost Tax Compliance
Monrovia- Amid the financial squeeze the CDC government is in, making difficult for it to even pay civil servants, the Liberia Revenue Authority has embarked on frantic efforts to raise government revenue.
For weeks now, some civil servants have been staging serious of protests in demand for payment of salary arrears, with some arrears running into many months. Now, the Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA), through its Domestic Tax Department, on Tuesday (Oct 29), has launched an awareness campaign on its new initiative called the Compliance Clustering System (CCS).
The launch of this latest campaign comes many days after LRA’s Commissioner General, Thomas Doe Nah said he was optimistic that his agency can step up revenue collection to beyond US$500 million.
The Compliance Clustering System seeks to improve tax education and ensure that taxpayers have full access to information they need in becoming complaint with the revenue code, a press release from the LRA said on Wednesday, October 30, 2019..
The new system involves the division of small and medium taxpayers according to their defined locations or communities which will be called clusters or zones. In these clusters, a team of tax officers from the LRA will be assigned to manage tax compliance of each taxpayer on a day to day basis. Launching the awareness campaign in Bentol, Montserrado County, LRA Assistant Commissioner for Medium Tax Division, Sabastian A. Weah said the program is part of the new initiatives of taking the LRA to the tax payers.
There are four separate awareness teams, spread across Montserado county’s 17 electoral districts creating awareness ahead of the official launch of the Compliance Clustering System.
Mr Weah said the Compliance Clustering System will make tax compliance easy, tax information accessible and tax payment efficient for taxpayers.
“This exercise is not just about collecting taxes and enforcing tax payment; rather, it is to inform the taxpayers
about the right tax payment processes,” he told the gathering during the launch.
LRA mobile tax teams will be available in every district to address concerns of taxpayers in regards to Business Registration process, Corporate Income Tax, Goods & Services (GST), Excise Tax, Withholding Taxes, Real Property Tax and other fees and charges, the Assistant Commissioner said.
The Compliance Clustering System is starting in Montserrado County and will roll out to other parts of the country.
Also speaking at the launch, Montserrado County Superintendent Florence F. Brandy thanked the LRA for such an initiative and noted that said exercise will help educate the entire country on tax payment and generate more revenue to enable government fund developments initiatives in the country.