Fuel, booze, airtime boost Zimra excise duty

Fuel, beer and airtime were the largest contributors to excise duty collections for the month of April, as the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) surpassed its overall collection targets for the month.

Zimra, however, failed to meet its targets in excise duty collections for the month, collecting $65 million against a target of $69,11 million.
"However, a 21,11% increase in revenue collections was recorded from the $53,67 million that was collected during the same period last year," a statement from the tax collector reads.

"Major contributors to the revenue head were fuel (68,79%), beer (14,98%) and airtime (10,46%).

"The performance of the revenue head can be attributed to low disposable incomes for the consumption of excisable goods as well as lower than anticipated fuel imports."
Overall, Zimra collected $351,83 million in April against a target of $331,47 million, attributing this to a strong performance in collections from the value-added tax (VAT), data from the tax collector show.

Zimra acting head corporate communications manager, Taungana Ndoro told NewsDay there was a general improvement in the performance of revenue heads with companies, VAT on imports, customs duty and other taxes recording a positive performance and surpassing set targets.

"The companies revenue head was the highest performer, with collections rising to $46,89 million against a target of $13,7 million," he said.

"Improved profitability by some companies coupled with compliance checks triggered the revenue head to the massive growth.

"Spillovers from the first quarterly payment date, as well as payments from companies with special arrangements also enhanced revenue collections during the month, hence the sharp spike in growth."

Net revenue collections in April 2018 improved by 41,92% from $247,90 million that was collected during the corresponding period in 2017.

A total of $33,8 million was collected for gross customs duty against a target of $29,3 million, a positive variance of 14,84%.

Compared to the same period in 2017, Zimra collected $21,4 million.

"The authority continues to implement revenue enhancement measures coupled with the use of technology to plug revenue leakages while the spirited fight against corruption will go a long way in securing fiscal revenue," Ndoro said.

"Compliance activities will also include sector-based projects which will focus on educating the taxpayers and assisting them to improve compliance levels."

Gross collections for the month amounted to $361,88 million, which is 9,18% above the targeted $331,47 million.

After deductions of refunds of $10,06 million, net collections were $351,83 million.