Customs Collections

The Kumasi Collection – mainly an inland collection – is made up of three major checkpoints which serve as intermediary transit referral points. The Collection serves as a major source of revenue due largely to the Bulk Oil Storage Terminal (BOST). Officers have been positioned to monitor the receipt and lifting of petroleum products so as to collect the various petroleum taxes and levies due GRA. Revenue from BOST contributes significantly to the Collection’s total annual revenue target.

It also serves as a strategic Preventive Post owing to its central location where most major roads from the south to the northern parts of the country are linked.

At the Kumasi Collection, several ‘uncustomed’ goods and vehicles are impounded every year, yielding revenue in the form of taxes, levies and penalties.

Accra Collection is one of the five Customs Offices in the Greater Accra region located at Jamestown. It is the only Customs office under the Customs Division restricted to processing, supervising and monitoring the free zone and warehousing regime. The Collection is responsible for the monitoring and supervision of all Customs Bonded Warehouses, Free zone companies and licensed manufacturers in Accra.

The office is also responsible for issuing licenses and approving concession applications for manufacturers within Accra. The Collection has an oversight responsibility over the Central Post Office at High Street and the Accra North Post Office at Circle.

The office is responsible for processing the following regimes; Home consumption following warehousing, Re-export, Home consumption following free zones, Export from free zones, Transfer from bond to bond and several others.

The Koforidua Collection is a Preventive Collection and serves as a secondary level of security in relation to cargo cleared at the ports and frontier stations as well as bonded Warehouses across the country.

The functions at the Collection are Revenue and Non-Revenue. The primary Revenue functions are Patrols and Barrier duties.

Other revenue functions include;

• Monitoring of transit goods
• Free zone Operations
• Recovery of duties/taxes with regards to voluntary compliance and uncustomed goods and services
• Collection of revenue on imported parcels at the post offices
• Register and monitoring of manufacturing companies
• Vehicle registration assistance at DVLA
• Receipt and discharge of petroleum products from Accra Depots to Buipe

The Collection is a very vast area comprising three (3) regions viz, Northern region, North East Region and part of Savannah Region. The core mandate of the Tamale Collection is to mobilise and collect revenue through imports at the frontier stations and the main office in Tamale.

The Collection routinely oversees frontier stations activities in revenue mobilisation through;

• Conducting Frontier bush patrol to clamp-down on smugglers.
• Ensuring trade facilitation through processing and clearance of goods and the movement of people across the border.
• Preventing the importation of harmful and injurious substances.
• Supporting the suspense regime, monitoring free-zone and temporary importation of goods within the context of the laid down Customs procedures and processes to avoid revenue leakage.

The Kotoka International Airport (KIA) Collection is somewhat at the peak of all Accra Collections because it serves both local and international purposes.

Unlike the other collections, the KIA Collection renders services such as documentation checks and supervision of import and exports by Customs Officials. These ensure imported/ exported goods do not escape the tax radar, and meet the global trading standards.

Their core functions include; Direct Export (Traditional & Non-traditional Exports) and Temporal Imports where transactions are censored for requisite documentation.

Other functions include; Re-export (Re-export of Duty-paid goods & Re-export from Bonded Warehouse) where approvals are sought for applications with the Customs Headquarters whilst ensuring the payment of a 1% processing fee among other requirements prior to export.

The collection is also charged with the responsibility of supervising the Export of Precious Minerals (Gold). Here, the Collection develops varied functions, and they include;

• Escorting and receiving of gold into the vault
• Supervising Assay/loading/sealing of gold at Precious Minerals and Mining Company (PMMC)
• Escorting and delivering of gold at departure
• Ensuring payment of 3% withholding tax
• Supervision of goods through scanning
• Physical examination
• External examination (Diplomatic pouch and biological substances).