Collections up by 8.45pc in the first half of 2017/18
What you need to know:
- The TRA taxpayer services and education director, Mr Richard Kayombo, said in a statement that Sh7.87 trillion was collected during the period under review – up from the Sh7.27 trillion collected in the first half of the previous financial year.
The Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) said yesterday it recorded an 8.45 per cent increase in revenue collections during the first half of the 2017/18 financial year compared to the collections it recorded during the same period the year before.
The TRA taxpayer services and education director, Mr Richard Kayombo, said in a statement that Sh7.87 trillion was collected during the period under review – up from the Sh7.27 trillion collected in the first half of the previous financial year.
Mr Kayombo attributed this relatively good performance to the “commitment and efficiency of the taxman”’ – revealing that “TRA teams were working round the clock in efforts to walk the talk” of the country’s premier revenue administrator as one of the strategies to maximise tax revenues.
Noting that transparency in tax collection and expenditure of the collected revenue tends to attract more taxpayers, Mr Kayombo told The Citizen over the telephone that “we have been plugging tax evasion loopholes and sensitising businesses into using electronic fiscal devices (EFDs) in a bid to increase government revenue.”
Although the collected amount of Sh7.87 trillion is below half of the full FY-2017/18 target of Sh17.1 trillion, Mr Kayombo is nonetheless optimistic that the TRA does indeed have what it takes to hit the set target.
He banks his hopes on the Authority’s efforts at broadening the tax base by registering new businesses.
The plans that are already afoot include registering one million new taxpayers by June this year, Mr Kayombo revealed –adding that the number of taxpayers in Tanzania is currently 2.615 million.
Tax revenue collections during last July and August increased by 2.96 per cent and 4.4 per cent respectively – Sh1.1 trillion and Sh1.2 trillion – compared to the previous year.
In September, October, November and December last year, collections increased by 2.37 per cent, 15.45 per cent, 12. 51 per cent and 17.65 per cent respectively, rising to Sh1.34 trillion, Sh1.29 trillion, Sh1.26 trillion and Sh1.66 trillion in that order.
In a fresh bid to rope in more taxpayers, TRA has given a-three-months grace period to new small-scale businesses before they start to pay taxes as a matter of course.
