Tanzania Revenue Authority hits record collection in December 2019

Dar es Salaam. Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) hit a record collection of 100.02 per cent of its total revenue in December 2019, exceeding the month’s target.

Addressing a press conference on Wednesday January 1, 2020, TRA’s commissioner general Dr Edwin Mhede said that TRA collected Sh1.987 trillion from various sources of revenues against its target of Sh1.983 trillion during the month.

“This is the highest score for particular month since an establishment of TRA,” he said.

Compared to last year, Dr Mhede said the growth rate of the collections is 22.05 per cent from Sh1.628 trillion collected in December 2018.

The taxman also collected Sh1.484 trillion in October and Sh1.501 trillion in November 2019, equivalent to 93.98 per cent and 97.59 per cent of their targets, respectively.

He said they had targeted to collect Sh1.579 trillion and Sh1.538 trillion in October and November 2019.

He, however, did not clarify on what amount were tax and non-tax collections.

The reasons for achievements, according to him, were the enforcement of existing laws and regulations, managing tax evasion loopholes, education to tax payers, regulating the provision of Electronic Fiscal Device (EFD) receipts and improving services.

“We have recently conducted a national tax education program where we meet tax payers and tell them why and how they should pay taxes,” he said.

In another development, the TRA has collected a total a total of Sh4.972 trillion, equivalent to 97.49 per cent of the Sh5.1 trillion as projected to be collected during the second quarter of 2019/20 financial year.

This means TRA has collected Sh9.22 trillion in the first half-year of the 2019/20 financial year, which is below 50 per cent of the annual target.

The annual target is to collecting Sh19.1 trillion, meaning that the tax body has a job of collecting the remaining Sh9.9 trillion in the coming second half of the year