IRC outs company submitting false declarations

THE Internal Revenue Commission (IRC) has revealed that a company in the retail and wholesale sector has been deliberately submitting false declarations to the commission.
An IRC statement said an audit revealed that the “flourishing retail taxpayer” had declared around K53 million in Goods and Services (GST) tax credits from January 2015 to April 2020.
The company told the IRC that it had been paying more than what it was collecting in GST for each and all of those six years.
But the audit discovered K61.4 million discrepancies (deliberate false declaration) for the same period.
So when netted off, it resulted in not only reversing the credits but a K8.5 million liability for the company to pay.
The IRC also revealed that several former IRC officers and tax agents had prepared the IRC returns, particularly the GST and Corporate Income Tax (CIT) returns for the same periods with different sets of accounts.
It was discovered that the GST figures were inflated without proper supporting records and information.
“We know that many companies in the retail and wholesale sector are routinely making false declaration to the IRC,” the statement said. “And we are profiling a good number of them.
“False declarations are designed to reduce a taxpayer’s tax liability.
“The underpayment of tax owed to the Government deprives the people of necessary infrastructure, health, education, and other public goods.
“The IRC is, therefore, increasing its audit focus on businesses that are flourishing, yet pay little taxes to the Government.”