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The National Revenue Authority (NRA) has made extensive strides to automate the tax administration system and the Auditor General believes that these technological interventions will help tremendously in enhancing revenue assessment, collection, and reporting.
For instance, the introduction of the ASYCUDA World and ITAS have greatly improved the collection and recording of revenue generated by the customs and domestic tax departments.
In 2021, all of the revenue operations that the Domestic Tax Department reported had been assimilated into the ITAS.
Notwithstanding the encouraging steps employed by the NRA to improve the revenue generation performance, the Auditor General noted some irregularities in the assessment, collection, and reporting of revenue.
These irregularities he says could be attributed mainly to the failure of the NRA to collect tax revenue and apply measures and sanctions against defaulters. Below are highlights of the irregularities observed.
During the review and reclamation of taxpayers’ tax liabilities, it was noted that tax liabilities of Le524.78 billion were owed to the Government of Sierra Leone (GOSL).
Therefore, the management of the National Revenue Authority and other MDAs step up the collection of these tax liabilities.
However, the NRA is still uploading taxpayers’ records from the VIPS into the ITAS and has made payment plans with some taxpayers.
Equally a comparison between the ASYCUDA World and the VIPS or ITAS, in respect of import GST, revealed that import GST (VAT 2) transactions totaling Le42.3 billion as reported in the VIPS or ITAS could not be traced to the ASYCUDA World.
The management of the NRA is currently investigating taxpayers who are on the list for making false claims on their GST declarations.
Other departmental receipts the Auditor General said were not supported by documentation as non-tax revenue of Le41.13 billion in respect of the Sierra Leone Civil Aviation Authority was disclosed in the General-Purpose Financial Statements.
However, there was no evidence to determine the accuracy and completeness of this amount. Moreover, they received no management response on this issue during the audit process.
“We draw attention to Note 11 in the General-Purpose Financial Statements, which describes Other Departmental Receipts.
“We were however not provided with sufficient and appropriate audit evidence to confirm the accuracy and completeness of revenue totaling Le41.13 billion relating to the Sierra Leone Civil Aviation Authority (SLCAA). Our opinion is not modified in respect of this matter” the Auditor General said.
