Tue, 28 Nov 2017 15:09:58 +0000
THE Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) is following up on all tax evaders exposed by the Financial Intelligence Centre, ZRA corporate affairs manager Topsy Sikalinda has said. The Financial Intelligence Centre last Friday disclosed that nearly 50 percent of entities that were awarded contracts by statutory agencies and parastatal institutions between
January to September were not registered for tax purposes.
FIC acting chairperson John Kasanga said that some of these entities were non-tax compliant even when this was a prerequisite to be awarded a public contract, raising suspicion of corruption by those responsible for the awarding of tenders.
Mr Kasanga said that FIC had also established that nearly 50 per cent of cases analysed had no capacity to carry out the contracts awarded as they were only operational for less than 12 months, while others were unregistered and had no financial base to execute the works.
And Mr Sikalinda told the Daily Nation that the ZRA was already in touch with FIC and following up on the revelations.
He reiterated that it was very easy to be tax compliant by visiting any nearest ZRA office for help related to all tax matters.
Mr Sikalinda said that ZRA would decide appropriate penalties for entities which would be found wanting once it concludes its investigations.
He assured that the ZRA was following up on the revelations by FIC, adding that the two institutions had a great working relationship.
Mr Sikalinda appealed to taxpayers to take the plea for tax compliance seriously as ZRA was readily available for help related to all tax matters.
“We are in touch with the FIC and we have a great working relationship with them. We are following up on the report but our plea to all taxpayers is that it is very easy to be tax compliant by visiting ZRA for help related to all tax matters,” he said.
