This is the first of its kind for GRA to come up with taxpayers’ charter that aims to create awareness about the taxpayer’s right and obligation.
The taxpayers’ charter defines taxpayers’ right and obligations under the Income and Value Added Tax Act (2012), Custom and Excise Act (2010) and other revenue laws.
Speaking at the opening ceremony on behalf of the GRA boss, Alieu Bittaye, the director of Risk Management, Reform, Modernisation and IT at GRA, said the GFMDP Project is financing the acquisition and implementation of an integrated Tax Administration System (ITAS) for The Gambia Revenue Authority to replace the current tax collection and accounting system GAMTAXNET.
He said a key component of the project support is also to provide support to taxpayers by enhancing taxpayer services which include the formulation of a taxpayer charter.
Bittaye explained that the taxpayer’s charter defines taxpayers’ right and obligations under the Income and Value Added Tax Act (2012), Custom and Excise Act (2010) and other revenue laws. “It also specifies the Authority’s legal obligations under these laws and our commitment to providing services to the taxpayers and bringing in transparency in the tax services which promotes tax compliance by taxpayers.”
According to Mr. Bittaye, as a revenue administration tasked with the mandate of mobilising revenue for government of The Gambia, “we cherish this right in our dealings with taxpayers.”
He also used the opportunity to advise the stakeholders to thoroughly review the document and bring in comments and contributions to enrich the charter which serves the interest of both the taxpayers and GRA.
For her part, the project manager GFMDP, Ndey Anta Taal, said the project is an International Development Association (IDA) of the World Bank’s 35 million dollar covering a period of five years.
“In this regard, we are supporting GRA to implement key activities including this validation workshop, the ITAS Business re-engineering process, the compliance management strategy and project management training among others,” she revealed.
