This presentation was delivered at the TANGO Policy Dialogue on Private Sector and Development Financing, held at the TANGO Conference Hall, The Gambia, where best practices in regards to the GRA's policy strategies towards private sector development.

2. The paper is divided into six parts:
 Presentation Objective
 Establishment of The GRA, Vision, Mission Statement & Core
Values;
 Functions & Mandate of GRA;
 Revenue Administration & the Roles of Revenue Departments
 Overview & Roles of Support Departments
 Legal, Policy & Administrative Reforms
 Conclusions

3.  To provide a general overview of The Gambia Revenue
Authority (Historical development);
 Share some important learning points, issues and
information pertaining to the Authority’s legal, policy and
administrative reforms all geared to enhance sustainable
growth and national development;
 Invites thought-provoking (critical) questions and
comments from the participants in a practicably &
interactive manner;
 Participants to go home with interesting and positive
insights of GRA’s resolved position as a genuine partner
in development.

4.  Gambia Revenue Authority was created by an Act
of the National Assembly in 2004 as a semi-
autonomous body corporate for the assessment
and collection of revenue;
 To provide for the efficient and effective
administration and enforcement of the laws
relating to the revenue collecting system in The
Gambia;

5. The functions of the Authority as provided under section 14 of
the GRA Act 2004 and as amended by No.10 of the Gambia
Revenue Authority (Amendment) Act,2010 are to:
 Assess, charge, levy and collect all revenue due to the Government;
 Ensure that all revenues collected are, as soon as reasonably
practicable, paid to the Consolidated Revenue Fund;
 Administer and enforce the Gambia Revenue Authority Act and the
revenue laws;
 Promote full compliance with tax laws;
 Take such measures as may be required to improve the standards of
service provided to taxpayers with a view of improving efficiency and
effectiveness in administration, and maximizing revenue collection;

6.  Take such measures as may be required or considered
necessary to prevent tax fraud and other tax evasion;
 Advise the Minister of Finance (MOF) on matters relating
to the administration and collection of revenue under The
Gambia Revenue Authority Act and the revenue laws,
 Perform such other functions, in relation to revenue, as
the Minister of Finance may direct.
NOTE:
The Authority (GRA) is, under the general supervision of
the Minister, responsible for the collection and receipt of
all revenue and shall perform its function in the most cost
–effective and efficient manner possible under the

8. “To be a highly efficient revenue
administration that enhances
national growth and development” .

9.  To promptly assess, collect and account for all revenues legally due to
government in a fair and transparent manner;
 Provide quality customer service and promote voluntary compliance;
 To be an efficient and capable organization with an adequate number of well
trained and motivated staff;
 To promote and strengthen bilateral and other stakeholders’ interests;
 To enhance revenue collection through the use of efficient and effective IT
systems;
 To simplify and standardise procedures and legislation without increasing
the compliance burden or hindering trade.

10.  Integrity – Treating all our stakeholder fairly
under the law and demonstrating a high
sense of honesty and transparency;
 Professionalism – Commitment to the highest
standards of achievement obtainable through
dedication and skill;
 Fairness – Applying the revenue laws
consistently, responsibly and reasonably in the
discharge of our revenue collecting and
enforcement functions.

11.  Revenue administration is performed with the help of the
following revenue and support departments:
Office of the Commissioner General (Corporate & Public
Affairs Unit)
◦ Customs & Excise Department (CED)
◦ Department of Domestic Taxes (DTD)
◦ Technical Services Department TSD)
◦ Finance & Accounting Department (FAD)
◦ Management Services Department (MSD)
◦ Directorate of Internal Audit
 The revenue departments (CED & DTD) perform their revenue functions
in accordance with two pieces of legislation i.e. the Customs and
Excise ACT (2010) & The Income and Value Added Tax Act
2012, respectively. Both legislation have a regulation to complement
the principal acts (CEA 2010 & the IVATA 2012).

12. Customs & Excise Department (CED)
- Operations, Technical Services & Enforcement
Responsible for:
 The collection of duties, excise, VAT iro imported goods
 Conduction of examination, verification, classification and valuation of goods
 Border security controls ( land, sea-port and airport) to detect and deter smuggling
of prohibited or restricted goods and articles.
Domestic Taxes Department (DTD)
- LTU, TOO & HQs
 Responsible for the registration, collection and enforcement of domestic taxes
iro PIT, CIT, CGT, Payroll, WHT, FBT, etc., and other non-tax revenues

•

13. Key Functions:
 TSD - Provide legal and technical advice to GRA, other government
departments, taxpayers and other stakeholders (iro duty waiver applications,
proposed amendments iro revenue laws to enhance revenue collection);
 In addition to the above, the (TSD) propose and draft tax treaties on behalf
of GRA and government institutions;
 Coordinate, the agreed and signed international protocols & MOUs such as
the ECOWAS’s ETLS & CET, Double Taxation Agreement (DTAs) with other
countries (e.g. UK, Kenya, Venezuela, etc.).
 Provision of policy planning and strategic direction for GRA through the
collection, management, compilation of monthly revenue performance and
activity reports, and data analysis on supplied data;

14.  Coordination and focal point of all IMF Technical FAD Missions;
 Direction of compliance strategy and taxpayer education
programmes of GRA;
 FAD- This department provide financial advice on budget and
expenditures, processing of payments and conduction of
reconciliation on GRA’s accounts in respect of revenue;
 DIA - Conduct financial audits on GRA operations (e.g. Payroll,
fixed assets and procurement. 100% risk-based audit of all GRA’s
provincial station and border posts to minimise the incidence of
institutional lapses (Road Tax, Licenses, GAMBIS);


15.  MSD- Responsible for the effective and efficient implementation of
Human Resource Management strategy (HRM), Information
Technology & Management Information System (IT/MIS) direction
and for the general administrative duties of the Authority

16.  Creation of the Gambia Revenue Authority (GRA) through the enactment
of the GRA Act, that provides for the establishment of GRA as a semi-
autonomous body corporate with Act No.13 2004 of the National
Assembly;
 Enactment of the Income and Sales Tax Act, 2004 and its amendments;
 Introduction of the Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) legislation and
regulation 2007;
 Development/enactment of the Income Tax (Rates for the informal
Sector) Regulations, 2007;
 Minimum tax reduced from 3% & 2% to 2.5% (unaudited) & 1.5%
(audited accounts) following the 2010 Amendment of the Income and
Sales Tax Act;

17.  Enactment of the Customs and Excise Act, 2010, in line with international
best practice (legal);
 The development and completion of the Customs & Excise Regulation
2013, designed for the effective operationalisation of its principal act,
awaiting the Minister’s signature (legal);
 The Customs & Excise Act, 2010 under s161 (2) and the IVATA 2012
s156 provides tax incentives for taxpayers. The Third schedule of the
Customs & Excise Act 2010 makes exemptions of goods imported or
purchased by individuals entitled to tax incentives. This is in line with
section 63 (c) of the GIEPA Act. The rationale is to harmonise the tax
incentives provided in the two legislations (legal);
 Migration from ASYCUDA 2.7 to ASYCUDA ++ for greater data processing
speed, security and effective generation of traders inputs (policy);

18.  Setting up and inauguration of the Tax and Customs Tribunal
October 2012, to serve as an alternative dispute resolution
mechanism on taxable decision make by the CG. The existence of
the Tribunal will make taxpayers to have confidence in the
administration of revenue in The Gambia (legal);
 Payment of taxes and customs duties through commercial Banks
(policy);
 Enactment of the Income & Value Added Tax Act, 2012, bringing
into context the legal imposition and basis of VAT, hence replacing
the Sales Tax legislation (legal);
 Enhanced GAMTAXNET software system, to accommodate VAT
and broaden its usage across all taxes, particularly in the areas of
file management, data generation and analysis (policy);

19.  Personal Income Tax (PIT) rates reduced by 5% (maximum now
30%) and threshold raised from GMD 7,500 to 18,000 2013(legal);

20.  Restructuring and transformation of the former Jerquing Section to
a more robust and functional Unit called Post Clearance Audit
(PCA) (administrative);
 Establishment of the Direct Trader’s Input (DTI) centre for better
and enhanced trade facilitation and quality service provisions to our
general clientele (administrative);
 Completion of the stabilisation, quality assurance rollout of the
ASYCUDA ++ to the border posts;
 Reduction of CIT rates from 35% to 33% in 2011 and 32 % in 2012
(administrative);
 FBT reduced to 32% in line with the CIT rate;

21.  Introduction of the simplified presumptive tax regime for SMEs with
turnover below D0.5 million annually – now a straight 3% tax on
quarterly turnover, with no deductions or annual filing (administrative);
 In agreeable terms and supporting the GIEPA’s devised Income Tax
Deposit waiver for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs);
 Conduction of rigorous taxpayer education programmes geared to raise
taxpayers awareness on GRA’s processes, procedures and laws.
 Establishment of Compliance Improvement and Risk Management
Committees to improve compliance on our systems, procedures and
procedures, hence to also keep track on all risk associated with ‘doing
business”;

22.  Establishment of the Duty Waiver Committee (DWC) to monitor all
duty waiver applications send to the Authority (GRA) through the
Ministry of Finance. The committee is further mandated to make
recommendation and advice on remissions and exemptions in
accordance with the provisions of the Customs & Excise Act, 2010;
 DT HQ unit established, for the strategic, technical support and
monitoring of DTDs policy matters, data compilation, compliance
monitoring, appeals handling and systems administration within
DTD, hence ensuring quality assurance and application of
procedures and processes (administrative);

23. The GRA continues to support private sector led
development initiatives, through its anchored tax
policy measures, all geared to enhance the
sustainability of government’s resolved and
continual fiscal incentives as a necessary tool for
accelerating socio-economic growth and
development.