By Adnan Adams Mohammed
The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has launched a sweeping digital offensive to transform tax administration in the country, unveiling its new Integrated Tax Administration System (ITAS).
The modern tech rollout is tied to an aggressive mobilization strategy aimed at broadening the tax net and doubling Ghana’s domestic revenue to GH₵310 billion by December 2028.
Speaking during a stakeholder engagement with business association leaders, media personnel, and tax professionals in Accra, the GRA Commissioner-General, Anthony Sarpong, emphasized that ITAS is designed to eliminate bureaucratic bottlenecks, improve customer experience, and enforce strict, mutual accountability between tax officials and the public.
Driving Efficiencies and Mutual Accountability
The rollout of ITAS marks a departure from traditional, cumbersome tax processes. According to the revenue authority, the platform leverages automation to make filing timely, accurate, and seamless, while introducing built-in Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that track operational timelines for both the state and the taxpayer.
“ITAS is a system that actually holds both GRA officials and the taxpayer accountable,” the Commissioner-General stated during a voice interview after the session. “Within ITAS, there are timelines for completing activities… If a taxpayer makes a request to GRA, it will show the timeline that GRA must respond to the taxpayer. And if we are not responding, ITAS will continue to give the feedback to the taxpayer that the activity has elapsed its completion timeline.”
The Commissioner-General noted that while ITAS is the definitive technology for the current economic landscape, the authority remains adaptable to future innovations.
“In today’s world, we believe that ITAS is the appropriate technology we have to use. But as you know, technology changes with time. And therefore, when technology changes and is no longer needed, we will have the responsibility to change.”
15 State Agencies to Integrate by December
To capture individuals and entities operating outside the traditional tax net, the GRA is executing an aggressive data-integration blueprint. By linking ITAS with key state databases, the authority aims to build a 360-degree view of economic citizens based on their real-world consumption and asset acquisition.
The systemic integration is scheduled to begin in July this year, with a targeted completion deadline of December for all 15 earmarked institutions.
Target Integration Agency Operational Trigger for ITAS
Registrar of Companies Automatic ITAS enrollment upon registering a sole proprietorship, partnership, or corporate entity.
SSNIT Cross-referencing pension contributions to verify employment and business income.
National Identification Authority (NIA) Utilizing the Ghana Card to map individual economic profiles.
DVLA Tracking luxury vehicle registrations (e.g., vehicles worth $20,000 to GH₵300,000) to match asset values against declared income.
Passport Authority Monitoring travel data and cross-border business activity to flags potential tax mismatches.
“Our plans are both targeting for those who are in the net and those who are not,” the GRA Chief explained. “We are going to integrate with other government systems… so that every citizen, every business, as they operate within government systems and operate in Ghana, at the point that they surface, ITAS will be able to connect with them.”
The Commissioner-General provided a clear example of how this cross-agency data tracking will function in practice:
“If you are registering your vehicle, we will see that you are registering a vehicle worth $20,000 or 300,000 Cedis. And ITAS will ask, ‘Is this person paying tax?’ If not, they will just approach you to let you pay a little bit of your income.”
Simplifying Taxes for the Informal Sector
Addressing the long-standing challenge of the informal sector which constitutes approximately 30% of Ghana’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) but contributes marginally to total tax revenues the GRA highlighted its Modified Taxation Scheme, originally launched in November 2025.
The scheme addresses the three main barriers deterrent to informal compliance: complex paperwork, distant tax offices, and rigid payment structures. It simplifies filing for small-scale operators such as artisans, barbers, and salon owners earning under GH₵500,000 annually.
“One of the challenges we found for the informal sector is that if there’s a complex return… they will not file the return,” the Commissioner-General observed. “So we said we have to make tax payment and returns simple. Number two, they will not leave their place of work and look at the nicety of GRA and move to offices. So GRA has to meet them at the point of their work.”
Stakeholders Call for Public Education and Fiscal Prudence
Reacting to the development, social commentator and public advocate Alistair Tyrell Nelson lauded the introduction of ITAS as a vital mechanism for single-point tax payments, emphasizing that the system must move away from heavy-handed enforcement toward voluntary compliance.
“ITAS is a very good thing. It’s a single-point payment of tax that will encourage everybody to come,” Nelson stated. “They want to make tax more simple, more friendly, to allow more people to pay. They don’t want to use the scarecrow mechanisms again.”
Nelson noted that with current estimates suggesting nearly 80% of those supposed to be in the net face shortfalls or non-compliance, robust public sensitization is critical to bridging the gap.
“There must be effective public education. It must go down to all taxpayers, those on tabletop businesses, those doing big businesses, to understand the system, appreciate it, and come along… If compliance gets to maximum, it means we’ll be collecting more with the same tax rates.”
However, Nelson coupled his advocacy with a strong reminder to the government regarding fiscal accountability, noting that citizens need to see tangible developmental returns to remain motivated.
“When people pay tax, we must also give them good returns so that they’ll be encouraged. If you go to the advanced countries, you see people rush to go and file their tax because of the returns they get. We must also be able to do those things here… We should use the collected monies wisely and effectively for the citizens to believe that paying taxes is a good thing,” Nelson concluded.
The GRA is currently appealing to all business association leaders to mobilize their members for the upcoming phase of specialized ITAS training clinics, asserting that a collaborative approach will grow local businesses, stimulate employment, and secure national self-sufficiency.
