MRA upbeat on tax targets
The Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) on Thursday said it is on course to hit its monthly tax targets if voluntary compliance continues to go up as has been the case in the past two months.
The tax collector, for the second time beat the set monthly revenue target for July 2016 by registering a total collection of K62.472 billion.
This is above the projected K59.590 billion by K2.882 billion.
The K62.472 billion collection represents a year-on-year growth of 20 percent as K52.138 billion was collected during the same period last year.
MRA is charged with the mandate to collect taxes for the Government on behalf of the people of Malawi.
Tax revenues collected are used in the running of public services and infrastructure development in the country, which includes remuneration for teachers, doctors, nurses, security personnel and officers in public service.
Tax revenue is also used to buy crucial items such as drugs and even construction of roads, bridges and school blocks, among others.
In an interview on Thursday, Steven Kapoloma, deputy director, corporate affairs said the July performance is attributed to strong collections in Value Added Tax (VAT), Provisional Tax, Excise Duties, Fringe Benefit Tax, Turnover Tax and Non Resident Tax.
The positive collection comes back-to-back with June when MRA had collected K56.1 billion, up from the projected K54.3 billion.
“We thank taxpayers who voluntarily come forward to pay their taxes on time for their compliance.
“This has been witnessed in the improved collection for the two consecutive months. The tax base is widening and we are optimistic that this progress will continue,” he said.
Kapoloma also said some of MRA’s initiatives to encourage voluntary tax compliance have helped the tax collector to turn the corner on collection.
“We are undertaking several modernisation and revenue enhancement activities to provide modern and efficient services aimed at reducing the cost of tax compliance while at the same time maximising revenue collection.
“The remarkable performance in June and July is a positive result of increased enforcement and taxpayer engagement activities aimed at countering non-compliance, tax evasion and smuggling,” said Kapoloma.
MRA is also making significant progress in the automation of services which has seen the migration to Automated System for Customs Data (Asycuda) World system. So far, 11 stations are now running online.
Kapoloma said the system offers speed and convenience as it allows for goods clearance electronically from anywhere in the world.
“Consumers are also beginning to take an active role in demanding fiscal receipts generated by the Electronic Fiscal Devices (EFD) following successful launch of the “Lisiti Langa” EFD Awareness Campaign in Limbe, Blantyre, recently.
Last month, tax expert Emanuel Kaluluma hailed MRA for beating its target at the end of its financial year, a development he said gives hope that tax collector can do better going forward. n
