The Department is headed by the Commissioner of Domestic Taxes and comprises of four Units with each Unit headed by a Deputy Commissioner. The Units are Headquarter Functions, Large Taxpayers, Small & Medium Taxpayers and Tax Audit. In addition, Deputy Commissioners are assisted by Tax Managers who head Sections or Tax Offices.
Headquarter Functions Unit
The Headquarter Functions Unit provides support to the office of the Commissioner of Domestic Taxes and other Units of the Department.
The Unit is responsible among other things for systems administration, provision of taxpayer services, the development and/or review of operational policies, process and procedure manuals, tax brochures and other educational material. The Refunds Processing, Objections & Appeals, Intelligence & Investigation and Compliance Risk Management functions are also carried out by the Unit.
In addition to providing support to the other units, The Unit also performs supervisory and monitoring responsibility to ensure adherence to the standard operating procedures for registration, returns and payment processing and receipting, consolidation, and analysis of periodic reports for management decision.
Large Taxpayer Unit
The LTU was established to enable the Department improve revenue performance by bringing the large taxpayers under the management of one Unit. This Unit manages the tax affairs of the large taxpayers and renders dedicated and central services to them. It is a one stop centre where all large taxpayers carry out their tax transactions.
The Unit manages taxpayers classified as large taxpayers based on their economic activity e.g., banks, telecommunication etc or their annual turnover/revenue.
Small & Medium Taxpayer Unit
The Small & Medium Taxpayers Unit administers all other taxpayers who do not meet eligibility criteria for large taxpayers. However, taxpayers in the provincial Tax Offices who meet the eligibility criteria for large taxpayers are classified as small & medium taxpayers for ease of managing their compliance within the proximity of their business addresses.
The Small & Medium Taxpayers Unit has thirteen Tax Offices spread across the country:
- Banjul Tax Office;
- Kanifing Tax Office;
- Brusubi Tax Office;
- Brikama Tax Office;
- Tallinding Tax Office;
- Serrekunda Tax Office;
- Wellingara Tax Office;
- Barra Tax Office;
- Farafenni Tax office;
- Soma Tax Office;
- Brikama-Ba Tax Office;
- Basse Tax Office;
- Bwiam Tax Office, and
- Rental Income Tax Office.
Tax Audit Unit
The Tax Audit Unit is responsible for the verification and confirmation of the accuracy of taxpayer returns and declarations and their compliance with other tax obligations.
To conduct the above, the Unit prepares an annual Audit Plan which is approved by the Commissioner of Domestic Taxes. This plan contains the scope of work intended to be carried out by the Unit for the year in addition to referrals from the other Units during the course of the year.
In implementing the Plan, the Unit conducts verification of monthly, quarterly & annual returns or declarations, perform desk and field audits, advise taxpayers on ways to correct errors detected during audits, calculate tax, penalty & interest where applicable, and refer cases requiring investigation to the Headquarter Functions Unit for further action.
The mandate of the Domestic Taxes Department in accordance with the revenue laws is to;
- Assess and collect domestic revenues due to Government;
- Enforce the domestic tax laws; and
- Provide services to taxpayers.
The Department adopts the Self-Assessment Regime in the administration of its revenue collection mandate. The Regime requires taxpayers to assess themselves by making declarations and/or pay any tax due to the GRA (Domestic Taxes Department).
Taxpayer Registration
Taxpayer registration forms the foundation for all other tax administration operational activities in the Domestic Taxes and Customs & Excise Departments. The registration process covers TIN and tax type registrations and the maintenance of TIN and tax type registration statuses. A TIN is issued to an applicant who is legally entitled to a TIN as per the Income and Value Added Tax Act 2012. The TIN application process and the requirements are as follows:
| Service Process | Required Form | Required Documents |
|
TIN Application Form |
Individuals
Corporations
|
Returns Processing
A tax Return is a report of a taxpayer’s self-assessed declaration. In a self-assessment regime, a tax return creates a potential payment obligation or indicates a credit position. In the former, the taxpayer to make payments due on the return filed and, in the latter, the taxpayer maybe entitled to a refund.
Below are the tax returns or declarations and their due dates for submission:
| Tax Return / Declaration | Frequency of submission | Due Date |
|
Corporate Income Tax Return |
Annually |
31st March |
|
Individual Income Tax Return |
Annually |
31st March |
|
PAYE Schedule |
Monthly |
15 days after month end |
|
VAT Return |
Monthly |
15 days after month end |
|
Fringe Benefit Tax Monthly Return |
Monthly |
15 days after month end |
|
Withholding Tax Monthly Schedule |
Monthly |
15 days after month end |
|
Capital Gains Tax Return |
Adhoc |
15 days after transaction date |
|
Rental Income Tax Return |
Annually |
31st March |
|
Quarterly Tax Declaration Form |
Quarterly |
15 days after end of the quarter> |
|
Pool & Betting Tax Monthly Schedule |
Monthly |
15 days after month end |
Risk Analysis and Management
In administering its revenue collection mandate, the Domestic Taxes Department through its Compliance Risk Management Section (CRMS), ensures that all taxpayers are registered for applicable tax types, file tax returns and declarations on time, pay taxes due and on time and more importantly declare and report accurately. The CRMS focuses on risks that pose a threat to revenue collection and these risks are managed across the four major taxpayer obligations; registration, returns filing, payment of taxes and accurate reporting.
Payment Processing
Payment processing begins when an assessment is raised, and notifications are sent to a taxpayer. The taxpayer’s payment obligation is the assessment (tax liabilities and interest and/or penalty where applicable). Payment can be made through one of the following modes:
- Payments at GRA Tax Offices
- Partner Banks
- Teller
- Internet Banking
- Bank Transfer (RTGS / SWIFT)
Taxpayer Accounting
In administering taxes, the GRA manages all transactions of taxpayers for which there is exchange of monetary value. As a result, all taxpayers have ledgers in the system which maintain record of all transactions with GRA. When a taxpayer is registered for TIN, the system creates a ledger for the taxpayer, where all tax transactions are accounted for. If the taxpayer is registered for tax type(s), tax type ledgers are created for each tax type or obligation type that the taxpayer is registered for.
Tax Audit
The Tax Audit Function ensures accuracy of reporting by conducting tax audits to enhance taxpayer compliance in accordance with the revenue laws. The selection and creation of audit cases will be initiated by the Compliance Risk Management Section through selected risk profiles. The Tax Audit Unit may manually create tax audit cases based on intelligence and other sources.
Intelligence and Investigation
The Intelligence and Investigation function analyses intelligence information from various sources for tax purposes. The Intelligence and Investigation Section receives intelligence information from several sources (third parties, audit referrals, data matching, whistleblowers etc.) and evaluates the information for further Investigation. In addition, the Intelligence and Investigations manages cases of serious tax evasion and tax fraud.
Compliance, Debt Management and Enforcement
The compliance, debt management and enforcement functions ensure that taxpayers are compliant with the tax obligations; registration, returns filing, payment of taxes and accurate reporting. The Compliance, Debt Management and Enforcement Functions comprises of two separate layers. The compliance Management function ensures that all taxpayers comply with their tax obligations; Registration, filing, payment, and reporting. This function also establishes taxpayer’s payment obligations and the imposition of penalties and interests as applicable. The Debt Management function enforces the recovery provisions of the Income & Value Added Tax Act. 2012 in the recovery of outstanding debts including referrals of cases for legal action.
Objections and Appeals
The Objections and Appeals process allows taxpayers who are not in agreement with the Commissioner General's tax assessments or decisions to object to the tax assessment or decision subject to certain conditions outlined in the tax law. In addition, the taxpayer has a further recourse when the objection is rejected to take the objection case to the Tax Tribunal and subsequently appeal to the Court of Appeal for the resolution of the objection case.
Revenue Accounting
Revenue Accounting ensures that all payment transactions with taxpayers are recorded in the taxpayer ledger and subsequently fed into a chart of accounts. This helps in revenue reporting, target projections, and performance monitoring.
Refunds Processing
The refund process is initiated when a taxpayer has a credit balance in his/her ledger due to over payment of taxes. Diplomatic individuals, organizations and NGOs who are exempt from paying VAT are entitled to a refund of VAT incurred on their purchases.
A taxpayer entitled to a refund maybe be refunded through the refunds process or use the amount to set off against the current and/or future obligations. Diplomatic / NGO VAT refund cannot be used to set off against other obligations where the diplomat or organization is liable for other tax obligations.
Taxpayer Services
Taxpayer Services in a self-assessment regime fosters voluntary compliance through the simplification of forms, provision of tax education, publication of tax documents, provision of services for filing, payments, tax clearance etc. It reduces the cost of compliance by enhancing taxpayers’ understanding of their tax obligations and rights.
The Authority’s engagement with taxpayers and their tax agents will include enquiries, requests, communication via the internet (email or social media) etc. The taxpayer services function is the first point of contact between the Authority and taxpayers.