admin
by 7 percent collecting $3,454 billion against a target of $3,233 billion.
In a statement on revenue performance for the year ending 31 December 2012, Zimra board chairman Mr Sternford Moyo said the last quarter saw revenue inflows surging.
“The last quarter of the year 2012 saw revenue inflows improving significantly, with the month of December recording the highest net collections of $414,58 million.
“Gross collections for the year amounted to $3,454 billion against a target of $3,233 billion, giving a 7 percent positive variance,” he said.
He said Value Added Tax (VAT) refunds processed during the year amounted to $197,5 million resulting in net annual collections of $3,257 billion against a target of $3,233 billion, giving a positive variance of 1 percent.
VAT and individuals tax contributed the bulk of the revenue, with 33 percent and 21 percent respectively while corporate tax contribution was 14 percent followed by excise duty with 12 percent and customs duty 11 percent.
He attributed the performance of the VAT revenue head to audits, follow ups and investigations done by the authority that have improved the compliance levels.
He said fiscalisation had to some extent levelled the playing field for large operators thereby improving compliance.
Mr Moyo said local industrial capacity utilisation had not been growing at the anticipated rate thereby negatively impacting the performance of VAT.
“The revenue head was also negatively affected by the huge refunds claimed by the authority’s clients during the year, with 15 percent of gross VAT collections being refunded”.
Individual tax contributed $686,4 million against a target of $645,0 million, reflecting a positive variance of 6 percent.
The positive performance of individuals tax, Mr Moyo said could be attributed to enhanced enforcement measures employed by the authority.
“In addition the performance awards and salary increments that were awarded by some companies also contributed to this position,” he said.
Collections from companies in 2012 stood at $442,7 million against a target of $415,0 million, leading to a 7 percent positive variance.
Performance of the corporate tax head could be attributed to recapitalisation by some companies which resulted in improved profitability. Audits and investigation activities also boosted collections on the revenue head.
Last year, $394,1 million was collected under the excise duty revenue head against a target of $385,9 million, giving a positive variance of two percent.
“Fuel contributed 69 percent while beer contributed 22 percent to the revenue head’s collections. The remainder came from tobacco, wines and spirits as well as second-hand motor vehicles,” he said.
Customs duty collections in 2012 stood at $354,2 million against a target of $376,9 million posting a negative variance of six percent.
“Actual revenue collections were negatively impacted by the tax expenditure regime which includes rebates and duties under bilateral arrangements,” said Mr Moyo.
He said mining royalties during the year were five percent above target after contributing $136,9 million against a target of $130,1 million. This was mainly due to increased audits and investigation activities.
Economic commentators applauded Zimra for surpassing the 2012 revenue target under the present business environment where liquidity challenges, energy shortages and high interest rates have affected the growth of the economy.
“Zimra’s revenue performance is quite commendable under the current economic challenges. The authority surpassed its revenue target by more than $200 million against a background of liquidity crunch and an industrial base which has not been growing any more. This shows concerted efforts being made by Zimra in increasing revenue collections for the country and this will go a long way in assisting Government in meeting some of its obligations,” said Mr Trust Chikohora.
He attributed the highest net collections achieved in December to the festive season where workers received their annual bonuses resulting in more disposable income.
“During the festive season, more people working outside the country were coming into the country and this improved collections at the borders by Zimra”.
Another economic commentator Dr Davison Gomo said there was a lot that Zimra needed to do in order to harness more revenue into the country.
“There is a very significant number of people whose businesses are operating in the country and are not on Zimra books, such entities include local and foreign-owned businesses.
“There is the general perception that those operating outside the radar are mostly foreign-owned businesses which the authority needs to investigate,” he said.
“There is need to make a very bold statement about what Zimra is doing to curb corruption in order to ensure increased revenue inflows. The authority also needs to develop very robust and proactive systems to curb corruption; there are also inefficiencies of its internal control systems. The level of service needs to improve so that more revenue is collected”.
Online Reporter