(Monrovia, July 12, 2019): The Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA) has awarded several taxpayers for their strong support and valuable contributions to tax payment and revenue collection in Liberia.
About 50 individuals, businesses and organizations received awards and certificates of special recognition. The awardees were selected based on either their total tax compliance or the amount of tax contributions during the 2017/2018 fiscal period year—July 1, 2017 to June 30, 2018.
Orange-Liberia GSM operator for the second time in roll won the Gold Award as the Highest Tax Contributor nationwide, Arcelor Mittal-Liberia won the Silver Award as the second highest tax contributor, while the Monrovia Club Breweries got the Bronze Award as the third highest in the tax payment category.
APM Terminals-Liberia was awarded as the Most Compliant Taxpayer nationwide in the Large Tax Division, Kpassakoi Trading Corporation was named as the Most Compliant Taxpayer nationwide for Medium Tax while the John Building Materials Center was recognized as the Most Compliant Taxpayer for the Small Tax segment.
Large taxpayers are businesses with yearly total income of L$30,000,000 and above. Medium taxpayers are businesses with yearly total income below L$30,000,000 but not less than L$3,000,000, while Small taxpayers are businesses making annual gross income of below L$3,000,000 but not less than L$200,000.
Meanwhile, Firestone Liberia for the second in a roll won the Most Compliant Taxpayer award in the Natural Resource Sector while Kumba Joseph Business Center was awarded as the Most Compliant Petty Trader for the second time in a roll.
In the Real Property Tax payment sector, Madam Adeline Morris was named as highest tax contributor for industrial property, the residential property highest tax contributor award was received by Bong County Senator Henrique Tokpa, while Total-Liberia was recognized as the highest tax contributor for commercial property.
Under the Customs category, DHL- Liberia was most compliant taxpayer using the Direct Transfer Platform; Fresh Frozen Food Inc, first-placed highest tax contributor in General Merchandise; Bridgeway Corporation took first place as most compliant importer as Total-Liberia carried the first place as highest tax contributor in the petroleum industry and also most compliant taxpayer using e-Filing, among others.
LRA former Commissioner General Elfrieda Stewart Tamba received special recognition award for setting the pace for the current LRA while recognition also went to several donor partners for their unflinching support to the work of the LRA. They include USAID/Liberia, World Bank Group, European Union, Open Society Initiative for West Africa, UNDP, African Development Bank, International Monetary Fund, and GIZ among others.
Speaking during the appreciation program held at the Paynesville City Hall on Wednesday, July 10, LRA Commissioner General Thomas Doe Nah commended taxpayers who made the efforts to contribute to the revenue envelope. He described Tax payment as a civic duty and is in line with law. He said without taxes the government will be unable to meet the demand of society.
“Taxes are crucial because the government collects the money and use it for projects. Also, in addition to paying the salaries of government workers, tax dollars also help support the security services, build community roads and main highways, but importantly it improves the quality of life for citizens and it is critical to the success of the Pro Poor Agenda,” CG Nah asserted.
For his part, Finance and Development Minister Samuel D. Tweah, Jr. recognized the significant contributions of taxpayers to the country’s revenue envelop. He lauded employees of the LRA for upholding their high moral standards in ensuring government needed taxes are collected timely while pledging government’s support to the operations of the Authority. He thanked honorees for paying their taxes to support government’s development programs.
The Liberia Revenue Authority’s annual Taxpayer Appreciation Day, launched in 2017, appreciates all taxpayers in the country and specifically recognizes compliant and highest taxpayers for meeting all their tax obligations on time and in full.
This year’s event was held under the theme: “Increase Tax Compliance To Enhance Domestic Resource Mobilization” and was supported by the United Nations Development Program and USAID-funded Revenue Generation, Governance & Growth (RG3) Project.
The annual recognition is part of efforts to reinforce a culture of voluntary tax compliance to increase revenue collection and domestic resource mobilization intended to support Liberia’s development programs.