Tanzania Revenue Authority explains Sh1.7tr-collection
Dar es Salaam. The Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) said yesterday its record Sh1.767 trillion collection in September was a result of strengthened collection systems, including tight monitoring of the use of electronic fiscal devises (EFDs).
The taxman is required to collect a total of Sh19.1 trillion – an average of Sh1.59 trillion A month - to partly finance country’s Sh33.1 trillion budget.
TRA Commissioner General Edwin Mhede said on Tuesday that during the first quarter of the financial year, a cool Sh4.432 trillion was collected, with a record Sh1.767 trillion being garnered in September alone.
The amount collected in September was equivalent to 97.20 per cent of Sh1.817 target for the month.
“This has never happened since TRA came into force. It’s a huge milestone compared to revenues collected in the same month of 2018, we have surpassed by 29.18 per cent,” he said.
Explaining further, TRA’s Taxpayer Services and Education director Richard Kayombo attributed the achievement to concerted efforts to curb tax cheats and awareness creation.
“We’ve centres at Msata, Mkuranga and Morogoro where we inspect tax receipts for all trucks carrying goods from Dar es Salaam. We ensure that all goods have had EFDs receipts issued and that the transporter has also paid all the relevant taxes,” said Mr Kayombo.
TRA, he said, has also been able to foster tax compliance awareness through television, radio, social media as well as short messages.
Having registered the achievement, said Mr Kayombo, the taxman was now working hand in hand with like-minded public and private sector bodies to ensure they surpass the revenue collection target for the financial year 2019/20.
In his statement, Prof Mhede said their major strategies aimed at closing tax evasion loopholes as well as enforcing the use of EFDs and putting up a friendly tax environment among others.
Although neither Prof Mhede nor Mr Kayombo spoke about the role of the Electronic Tax Stamps (ETS) in raising tax revenues, the increase comes at a time when TRA has successfully rolled out two phases of its use.
ETS enable use of modern technology to obtain production data timely from manufacturers.
The first phase of the project – being rolled out by a Swiss firm, Société Industrielle et Commerciale de Produits Alimentaires (SICPA) - was launched on January 15, this year (2019) during which period, electronic stamps were installed in 19 companies.
