aurora
Business Writer
The Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) says it expects a productive 2022 as most of its projects are now at implementation stages and are expected to have a positive impact on revenue.
Josephine Matambo, Zimra’s vice-board chairperson, said the authority will continue to implement the identified revenue enhancement strategies to grow the tax base.
“Clients are encouraged to respond positively to the strategies ZIMRA is implementing to make it easy for them to pay taxes voluntarily,” she said in a revenue performance statement for the quarter ended 31 December 2021.
According to the statement, among the key strategic projects which have a national impact that Zimra is implementing is the border surveillance which involves acquisition of drones.
“The authority is in the process of acquiring drones to be used for border surveillance operations and these drones will go a long way in curbing smuggling, thus increasing revenue to the nation,” she said, adding that the supplier for the drones has been selected, contract signed and implementation is underway.
The other project is the Inland Dry Ports, which has the aim of decongesting the borders. Zimra said the project, which is going to be constructed in phases, is progressing well, starting with the Makuti Dry Port, which will decongest Beightbridge, Forbes and Chirundu border posts.
“The Makuti Dry Port is now at design stage. Other locations earmarked for construction of Dry Ports after Makuti are Mutare, Bulawayo and Masvingo,” said Matambo.
Zimra also has a project on the Tax and Revenue Management System (TaRMS), which involves replacing the Domestic Taxes Information Technology Operational System.
Matambo said an international tender was flighted and the winning bidder was selected and contract negotiations with the winning bidder are now underway.
“This new Domestic Taxes IT system is expected to facilitate easy submission of tax returns, easy access to the Zimra portal, easy interaction between Zimra and the client and overall, contribute to the national strategy of making it easy to do business in Zimbabwe,” she said.
She noted that once the system together with the Asycuda Customs System upgrade and the fiscalisation program are completed, the client will enjoy doing business with Zimra as the ICT system will then be efficient and effective.
In terms of revenue performance for the quarter under review, gross collections amounted to $161,08 billion against a target of $108,17, translating to a 48,91 percent above target. The Authority paid out refunds of $3,90 billion.
The report shows that fourth quarter net revenue collections grew by 71,77 percent in nominal terms when compared to the ZWL$91,51 billion collected during the same period in 2020.
After adjusting for inflation, net revenue grew by 8.81 percent in the fourth quarter of 2021 as compared to the same period in 2020.
During the quarter under review, the fourth Quarterly Payment Dates (QPD) by Companies boosted collections under this tax head.
The Intermediated Money Transfer Tax performed above target and contributed 10,48 percent to the quarterly revenue.
Zimra said the non-availability of adequate cash to meet transaction needs of corporates and individuals resulted in increased demand for electronic transactions and this boosted IMTT collections.
Bongani Ndlovu