By MUKWIMA CHILALA
THE Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) says they have been engaging clearing agents and teaching them on how to operate the newly introduced Customs Agent Management module Last year, ZRA introduced an automated Clearing Agents Management Module to replace the manual one.
ZRA Corporate Communications Manager Topsy Sikalinda said yesterday they have been having successful engagements and meetings with the agents except for a few that have opted to make the issue political which they will not dwell on.
Mr Sikalinda noted that the ZRA had earlier called the clearing agents associations so that they could sit to a round table and reach an understanding regarding what their grievances were and that three out of the six agreed to adapt to the new system.
He noted that ZRA’s mandate is to collect taxes and raise money for service delivery and that one of the issues the module was dealing with is to curtail TPIN abuse which was being used for smuggling purposes.
And Mr Sikalinda said that the ZRA had taken note of the concerns raised by the agents regarding the issue of 95 percent of business being in the hands of multi-national companies and that they had made recommendations to the Ministry of Finance.
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