MONROVIA, Montserrado – The Liberia Revenue Authority has launched two new mobile applications to enhance compliance with tax payments and strengthen supervision and accountability among its staff.

The applications were developed through the support of the Open Society Initiative for West Africa as part of efforts to reform the LRA.

The tax collector revealed in a release that one of the new technologies, the LRA Mobile Application, will be used to acquire tax identification numbers, real property taxes, and to calculate all kinds of real property taxes. LRA said the application would be available for download through the Google Play store for smartphones and other electronic devices in November 2019.

It said another application, Find LRA Staff, can be accessed through web browsers (lra.findofficer.org). That application enables taxpayers and members of the public to identify genuine LRA employees, with options to file complaints against them or to commend them for their services.

The authority said the launch of the two applications is in line with its five-year corporate strategic plan, which emphasizes using information communication technology to enhance the collection of the country’s revenue.

LRA’s Commissioner-General Thomas Doe-Nah said the initiative is also aimed at improving the tax payment system and efficiency gear toward expanding the tax network.

“We want to see the inclusion of technology in all the work we do so as to make tax payment easy,” he noted.

According to him, the two applications will pave the way for designing more user-friendly applications to ease revenue collection and tax payment. He assured the public of LRA’s commitment to collecting lawful revenues for the development of the country.

Doe-Nah also urged LRA employees to be professional in their interactions with taxpayers, stressing zero tolerance for corruption in tax collection.

Performing the official launch of the applications on Tuesday, LRA’s deputy commissioner general for administrative affairs, Aaron Kollie, encouraged taxpayers to make use of the applications in helping to strengthen the collection of revenues.

Arthur Fumba, an executive member of the Liberia Institute of Tax Practitioners, also praised the LRA for the two applications and promised his institution’s support to promote tax payments.

Featured photo courtesy of the Liberia Revenue Authority