Zimbabwe tax compliance only 30 percent?




Spread the love

HARARE,– Zimbabwe’s tax agency says it is only collecting about 30 percent of potential revenue as tax compliance remains a challenge.

The bulk of the southern African nation’s revenue collections comes from individual tax (Pay As You Earn), followed by excise duty.

Corporates are the highest defaulters, accounting for biggest chunk of the $3,12 billion tax debt as at June.

“Currently we are just collecting a fraction, maybe 30 percent of what we should be collecting, if we were to collect all the monies which are collectable we would not have such a big economic problem as we have,” Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) chairperson, Willia Bonyongwe told a tax conference last Friday.

“The structure of our economy and industries has changed, where we used to go and find people, you do not find them anymore, there are now working from houses and different places. Their banks and clients know where they are while the taxman does not know, which is a problem.”

ZIMRA expects to surpass to surpass this year’s $3,7 billion revenue target by at least 15 percent on improved collection efforts.