ZRA scoops K105m over amnesty

Thu, 25 May 2017 12:34:25 +0000

BY BUUMBA CHIMBULU

ABOUT K105 million has so far been realized from the amnesty on interests and penalties which was introduced on 24th April 2017 by the Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA).

The exercise, which will run up to December this year, is meant to assist taxpayers to be tax compliant.

Speaking in an interview in Chirundu, ZRA corporate communications manager, Topsy Sikalinda, said the authority had received overwhelming response from Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) as compared to big organizations. “The feedback from big organizations is very poor but SMEs have taken advantage of the exercise and are bringing in applications,” he said.

Mr Sikalinda encouraged taxpayers to take advantage of the amnesty to avoid enforcement of the law by the authority.

He said taxpayers could use the amnesty to put their house in order by clearing old debts without having to pay interest and penalties. Meanwhile, goods worth K200,000 seized by the ZRA between September 2015 and July 2016 in Chirundu were yesterday disposed off.

Among the goods which were 547 cases of alcohol and 30 cartons of cigarettes.

Other items included obsolete goods that overstayed in the ZRA warehouse without the owners coming forward to clear them

Speaking in Chirundu when disposing off the goods, Mr Sikalinda said such actions were taken by the authority to ensure that the economy was protected.

Mr Sikalinda explained that ZRA seized and disposed off such goods in line with its provisions under section 204 (1) (b) of the Customs and Exercise Act.

“The authority’s desire is to ensure that smuggling is reduced or brought to an end at all cost in order to protect the Zambian economy because unfair pricing due to many smuggled items on the market can distort the economy,” he said.

Mr Sikalinda said one of the ways ZRA was fighting smuggling was by introducing Time to Payment Agreements (TPAs).

He explained that these agreements enabled businesses or anyone with a registered business to pay taxes over a period of agreed time.