The Government of Liberia has signed a Framework Agreement for the development, instillation and operations of an Electronic Fiscal Device System (EFDS) in Liberia.
Government, represented by members of the Inter Ministerial Concession Committee (IMCC) namely, the Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA), National Investment Commission (NIC), Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MOCI) and Ministry of Finance and Development Planning (MFDP) signed the agreement recently.
According to the Liberia Revenue Authority, the electronic system will enable the Government to install electronic fiscal devices to track daily transactions and sales records of businesses in Liberia.
The project was initiated in 2018 by the Ministry of Commerce as the Concession Entity followed by an International Competitive Bidding (ICB) process with TRACOM emerging as the most responsive bidder demonstrating a strong track record, sufficient financial capacity to deliver on the project and impressive technical expertise. The group, under the agreement, is expected to invest up to US$12.7 Million over the period of seven years.
The fiscal device system will compile sales data of supermarkets, stores, hotels and restaurants among others aimed at promoting accountability and transparency in the filing and payment of various taxes to include Corporate Income Tax (CIT) and Goods and Services Tax (GST) and boost revenue collection.
The system will also change the way the Government of Liberia does business, ensure justice within the tax administration and professionalism amongst public and private sector actors and create thousands of direct and indirect jobs especially for local IT firms to carryout on-site and off-site maintenance services for twenty thousand electronic fiscal devices to be deployed at various businesses across the country.
Speaking during the signing of the agreement at the Headquarters of the Liberia Revenue in Paynesville, LRA Commissioner General Thomas Doe Nah described the introduction of the electronic fiscal device system as a groundbreaking intervention for the mobilization of domestic revenues for Liberia.
He said the introduction of the electronic fiscal device for tracking sales data of businesses marked the beginning of more important undertakings to be initiated to promote accountability and enhance revenue collection.
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Also speaking, the Chairman of the National Investment Commission Molewuleh Gray said the coming into effect of the electronic fiscal device project seeks to generate opportunities to increase revenue collection and augment fiscal monitoring while at the same time create jobs. He praised partnering government stakeholders for their contributions leading to the successful finalization.
For his part, TRACOM’s Managing Director Paul Njau said the project is part of efforts to strengthen enterprise development in Africa and encouraged more of such smart investments across the continent.
He assured the commitment of TRACOM Liberia Limited to diligently implement the electronic fiscal device project so as to yield the results intended. The fiscal device system implementation will be fully led by the Liberia Revenue Authority and supported by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
Other members of the IMCC were Ministry of Labor, National Bureau of Concession, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Ministry of Justice among others. Press Release
