ZIMRA gets tough on fiscalisation

Zimra Commissioner General, Gershem Pasi

THE Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) has heightened efforts to force companies to fiscalise, as it seeks to shore up dwindling revenue, the Financial Gazette’s Companies & Markets (C&M) can report.
Last week, ZIMRA warned companies that have not yet complied with its fiscalisation directive that they would face the full wrath of the law.
The tax collector warned that no company would be issued with a tax clearance certificate unless it fiscalised.
“The (tax clearance) certificates are issued to clients who are compliant with their fiscal obligations,” said ZIMRA.
“Clients who are issued with tax clearance certificates must ensure that they continue to be compliant throughout the year. Failure to comply will result in a number of measures being taken, including charging penalties and interest and instituting recovery measures. Clients must note that failure to comply may also result in the withdrawal of the tax clearance certificate,” said ZIMRA.
“Should ZIMRA discover that the client’s tax position has changed, the authority reserves the right to revisit the client’s tax clearance status and withdraw the tax clearance certificate.”
A fortnight ago, C&M reported that ZIMRA was giving out fiscalisation gadgets to companies for free.
This highlighted its bid to rake in more revenue to fund the cash-strapped government.
The revenue base continues to dwindle, eroded by a shrinking economy, itself affected by company closures and increasing job losses.
Consequently, ZIMRA is having severe headaches in meeting its revenue targets.
Fiscalisation uses electronic fiscal devices or machines designed for use in businesses for efficient management controls in areas of sales analysis and stock control system such as electronic tax registers, electronic fiscal printers and electronic signature devices.
In essence, these devices are designed to capture all sales information and automatically re-route it to the tax authorities who in turn are able to see how much they are owed by companies.
The fiscalisation project was introduced six years ago when government made fiscalisation legally enforceable by gazetting Statutory Instrument 104 of 2010.
Only those companies whose annual turnover was more than US$240 000 qualified to register for the fiscal devises.
Now, as provided for in Section 80 of the amended Income Tax Act, ZIMRA is introducing fiscal devices for all companies in an attempt to monitor economic transactions.
Local industry bodies have, since the beginning of the project, been strenuously resisting its implementation, arguing that the gadgets, at a cost of between US$600 and US$3 200 per unit, weighed down operations.
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