More suppliers of VAT devices appointed

from from six to allow shops to have a wider choice of where to procure the devices.
As a result, Finance Minister Tendai Biti in his Mid-Term Fiscal Review Policy Statement said all shops had up to October 1 to comply with the adoption of VAT fiscalised devices.
“Government through the State Procure-ment Board, re-tendered for the supply of VAT fiscalised devices. Consequently eight additional suppliers of fiscal devices have been licensed to complement the existing suppliers.
“We do not expect any excuses this time around because we have a number of companies supplying the devices,” he said.
Minister Biti said it is envisaged that the licensing of additional suppliers will result in competitive pricing of fiscalised devices.
He said tremendous progress has been registered in the development of interfaces, necessary to link the fiscalised printer to the point of sale machine.
Government announced late last year that firms with an annual turnover of US$240 000 would be required to adopt the electronic tax devices as a means to improve the revenue collection system.
However, most companies, mainly retailers have struggled to acquire the new tax registers.
“Registered operators in Category C have, thus, been availed ample time, since 1 January 2011, to fiscalise their operations, hence should have made significant progress in this respect.
“The Zimbabwe Revenue Authority will, thus, conduct inspection and audits with a view to enforce compliance with effect from 1 October 2011,” said Minister Biti.
He added that the current VAT Fiscalised Recording of Taxable Transactions Regulations provide that registered operators who are not able to comply by the fixed date must apply for an extension to the Commissioner- General who shall, on good cause shown, grant an extension for compliance not exceeding 30 days.
“I propose to extend the compliance period within which the Commissioner- General may authorise from 30 to 90 days,” he said.
The system promotes integrity and equity among registered operators. The devices contain in-built read-only memory which stores tax information at the time of sale and store the information for three years.
The new tax management system is expected to help increase Government’s revenue by nearly 20 percent.