News / National
Govt moves to scrap POS tax
18 Jul 2017 at 08:10hrs | Views
Government is moving to scrap off a five percent tax presently being levied on Point of sale and electronic transactions, as efforts to promote the use of cash-lite payments are intensified, said Acting Finance minister Joseph Made.
He said the move was in line with a government position to review electronic transactional fees downwards to promote electronic transactions and relieve demand on scarce cash reserves.
Minister Made said, "The Government through the Reserve Bank continues to support efforts aimed at promoting electronic payment transactions in the economy. These efforts have culminated in increases in Point of Sale (POS) machines from 16 000 in January 2016 to currently 40 600. This has resulted in an impressive increase of electronic and plastic money transactions from around 40% in 2016 to the current average of 80% in the formal market.
"Efforts are underway to intensify the use of electronics and plastic money in the informal sector which is currently predominantly cash based. In addition to POS machines, the Reserve Bank is also promoting the use of other electronic means of payment available to the transacting public for use in the economy such as real gross settlement (RTGS), electronic funds transfer (EFT), mobile financial services, Near field Communication (NFC) and quick response (QR) code.
"Furthermore, the Government has also, through the 2017 National Budget, scrapped import duty for POS devices and we are proceeding to remove the 5% tax per transaction on POS and electronic payments. It is our considered view that this initiative will further bring the requisite financial resources and capacity for institutions to import more POS machines."
The Confederation of Zimbabwe Retailers (CZR) has been engaging the Government seeking the scrapping of the five percent Point of Sale (POS) tax so as to promote use of plastic money in the country.
CZR president Mr Denford Mutashu suggested that scrapping the five percent tax on POS could go a long way in encouraging use of plastic money by both businesses and consumers.
He said the move was in line with a government position to review electronic transactional fees downwards to promote electronic transactions and relieve demand on scarce cash reserves.
Minister Made said, "The Government through the Reserve Bank continues to support efforts aimed at promoting electronic payment transactions in the economy. These efforts have culminated in increases in Point of Sale (POS) machines from 16 000 in January 2016 to currently 40 600. This has resulted in an impressive increase of electronic and plastic money transactions from around 40% in 2016 to the current average of 80% in the formal market.
"Furthermore, the Government has also, through the 2017 National Budget, scrapped import duty for POS devices and we are proceeding to remove the 5% tax per transaction on POS and electronic payments. It is our considered view that this initiative will further bring the requisite financial resources and capacity for institutions to import more POS machines."
The Confederation of Zimbabwe Retailers (CZR) has been engaging the Government seeking the scrapping of the five percent Point of Sale (POS) tax so as to promote use of plastic money in the country.
CZR president Mr Denford Mutashu suggested that scrapping the five percent tax on POS could go a long way in encouraging use of plastic money by both businesses and consumers.
Source - Byo24News
