Business / Economy
1 471 defaulters apply for Zimra tax amnesty
27 Feb 2015 at 16:37hrs | Views
1 471 defaulters have submitted tax amnesty applications to the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) to date, Zimra commissioner general Gershem Pasi has said.
The tax amnesty commenced in October last year and will end on the 31st March 2015. It covers offences that occurred between February 2009 and the end of September 2014.
Speaking at a press conference this morning Pasi urged companies to take advantage of the tax amnesty period to clear their tax arrears to avoid inconveniencies in their operations with the closing by Zimra.
"To date a total of 1471 applications have been submitted their forms with 159 were rejected mainly because of incomplete information and making declarations on amounts that would have already been assessed. The tax amnesty is open to all classes of tax payers but the submitted applications indicated that people are not complying with the act and we expect thousands of applicants," he said.
The economy has been facing numerous challenges which has resulted in tax debts to Zimra amounting to $1 billion.
Pasi said one of the reason for the tax amnesty was the revenue collector's failure to meet set targets. Last year Zimra collected $3,6 billion against a target of $3,82 billion resulting in a negative variance of 6 percent.
"This trend clearly calls for extra-ordinary measures.....giving relief to taxpayers," he said.
He also said after the tax amnesty period expire Zimra will approach the Ministry of Finance for stiffer penalties to be imposed on defaulters.
"After March the issue of penalties and interests will be brought back in the system and Zimra team will start the monitoring of vehicles since most of the vehicles are smuggled by car dealers with following normal procedures," he said.
This year the government is targeting revenue of $3,951 billion and $542, 08 million is expected to come from tax payers.
"Collections to date amount to $468, 53 million against a target of $542, 08 million which translate to a negative variance of 14 percent," said Pasi.
The tax amnesty commenced in October last year and will end on the 31st March 2015. It covers offences that occurred between February 2009 and the end of September 2014.
Speaking at a press conference this morning Pasi urged companies to take advantage of the tax amnesty period to clear their tax arrears to avoid inconveniencies in their operations with the closing by Zimra.
"To date a total of 1471 applications have been submitted their forms with 159 were rejected mainly because of incomplete information and making declarations on amounts that would have already been assessed. The tax amnesty is open to all classes of tax payers but the submitted applications indicated that people are not complying with the act and we expect thousands of applicants," he said.
The economy has been facing numerous challenges which has resulted in tax debts to Zimra amounting to $1 billion.
Pasi said one of the reason for the tax amnesty was the revenue collector's failure to meet set targets. Last year Zimra collected $3,6 billion against a target of $3,82 billion resulting in a negative variance of 6 percent.
"This trend clearly calls for extra-ordinary measures.....giving relief to taxpayers," he said.
He also said after the tax amnesty period expire Zimra will approach the Ministry of Finance for stiffer penalties to be imposed on defaulters.
"After March the issue of penalties and interests will be brought back in the system and Zimra team will start the monitoring of vehicles since most of the vehicles are smuggled by car dealers with following normal procedures," he said.
This year the government is targeting revenue of $3,951 billion and $542, 08 million is expected to come from tax payers.
"Collections to date amount to $468, 53 million against a target of $542, 08 million which translate to a negative variance of 14 percent," said Pasi.
Source - BH24
