The objective is to enhance professionalism and competence of the revenue officers to be responsive.
The five-day convergence held at the Senegambia beach Hotel, also seeks to develop all-round revenue officers to better their understanding, roles and duties within the revenue administration and to examine a range of legal related subjects designed to increase their personal and professional knowledge and competence and, by extension, enhance the operational effectiveness of the GRA.
At the training, Essa Jallow, deputy Commissioner General and Head of Domestic Tax at The Gambia Revenue Authority (GRA), said the training is part of GRA 2020 to 2024 corporate strategy plan, designed to equip staff on the required knowledge of revenue laws.
The training, he said, is the most important tool for revenue officers, adding that the laws and regulations are in place to guide their decision and ensure that, they are able to collect revenue for the state.
“The decision we made for the job has to be consistence with the laws and regulation under our preview; the right are needs to be protected by GRA while the obligation have been fully discharge by the tax payers. Revenue maximisation cannot be achieved without fully knowing of the laws and ensure that all those who have obligation comply, considering the fact that we have that self-assessment.” he said.
According to him, if tax payers fail to discharge their tax obligations, then the laws are there to assist them by subjecting them to the full force of the applicable laws to honour their obligation.
He called on participants to make the best use of the opportunity accorded them by participating fully during deliberations.
Also speaking, Abdouraman Bah, Director of Legal Affair who doubles as GRA Board Secretary, said the authority was created to administer the revenue laws in The Gambia and it is important that laws are administered.
The training, he added, is a yearly activity and that it is important as revenue administration to be aware of the laws that they administer.
He thus urged participants to pay much attention to the resource persons in a bid to boost their knowledge on revenue laws.
Ismaila Jallow, acting commissioner of Customs, emphasised the importance of the training, saying acquiring enhanced knowledge of the GRA revenue laws is a vital step in the development of the institution and as revenue officers.
