Chronicle Editor
Oliver Kazunga, Senior Business Reporter
THE Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) has exceeded the $269.41 million revenue target for July after gross collections amounted to $302.86 million while net collections after deducting $16.37 million refunds were $286.49 million.
In a statement on Wednesday, the tax collector said net revenue collections during the period under review were 6.34 percent above target and outweighed the July 2016 collections by a whopping 16.36 percent.
“Revenue collections for the seven months from January 2017 were also above the 2016 collections, except for April and June when revenue targets were marginally missed by 6.7 percent and 2.24 percent respectively.
“The sterling performance is a result of the automation drive, stakeholder engagements, anti-corruption initiatives and intensified enforcement programmes that are being implemented by the authority,” said Zimra.
It said Value Added Tax (VAT) on both local sales and imports performed above set targets mainly due to the increase in the use of electronic payment systems and the rolling out of the electronic cargo tracking system.
The electronic cargo tracking system, the tax collector said, continues to bear fruits by curbing smuggling and transit fraud.
Zimra said gross VAT collections on local sales of $76.32 million were 37.52 percent above the target of $55.50 million.
Net VAT on local sales amounted to $60.08 million after deducting refunds of $ 16.24 million resulting in a positive variance of 8.25 percent.
Collections under VAT on imports were $37.73 million against a target of $28.60 million.
“Revenue collections under this revenue head exceeded the set target by 31.93 percent and increased by 24.07 percent compared to the $30.41 million collected in July 2016.
“Individual tax recorded a 6.09 percent rise from the July 2016 collections due to intensified enforcement measures being implemented by Zimra.
“The $64.72 million collected in July was also 1.48 percent above the target of $63.77 million,” said the authority.
It said the electronic cargo tracking system had improved volumes of properly declared fuels entering the domestic market. This, it said, has seen an upsurge in excise duty collections.
The revenue head contributed $59.96 million against a target of $56.39 million resulting in a positive variance of 6.34 percent. Excise Duty collections were, thus, 30.32 percent above the $46.01 million collected in July 2016.
Corporate income tax collections of $12.42 million were 15.03 percent above target. Customs duty, on the other hand, contributed gross collections of $27.72 million and net revenue of $27.71 million against a target of $23.70 million, resulting in a positive variance of 16.9 percent on net revenue collections.
Net collections for last month improved by 35.01 percent from the $20.52 million collected in the same period last year.
“Zimra has continued to step up efforts to mobilise revenue through stakeholder engagements and implementation of programmes meant to boost operational efficiency and effectiveness.
The moratorium for registration of small-to-medium enterprises, which ran from 1st of January to 30th June 2017 has seen almost 13 000 new taxpayers registering with Zimra, which signals an increase in the tax base,” it said. — @okazunga.
Online Reporter