TAX amnesty has been extended by three months to June 2015 following requests by customers and their representatives, the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) has said.
BY TATIRA ZWINOIRA
A tax amnesty is a limited-time opportunity for a specified group of taxpayers to pay a defined amount, in exchange for forgiveness of a tax liability (including interest and penalties) relating to a previous tax period or periods and without fear criminal prosecution.
“In response to requests by clients and their representatives, Zimra hereby advises our valued clients that the government has extended the period in which applications for tax amnesty may be accepted by three months from March 31 2015 to June 30 2015. This means Zimra will continue accepting applications for tax amnesty up to June 30 2015.” Zimra said in a statement on it’s website.
Businesses are required to keep records of all their operations and pay provisional tax on stipulated dates referred to as quarterly payment dates. The provisional tax is based on the respective percentage of estimated annual tax due. However, Zimra said issues already covered in completed or on-going audits or investigations other enforcement activities by Zimra are still not covered by this amnesty.
“The payment period still ends on December 31, except for cases covered by the legislation and a discount. The 5% discount is still applicable for early payment of amounts due,” it said.
Zimra is owed over $1 billion by companies in unpaid taxes. It is struggling to collect taxes from various customers and has been raiding bank accounts to force companies to pay up. The country has a high unemployment rate and over 85 companies have closed down due to the unfavourable business climate which has reduced the amount of taxes to Zimra.
The informal sectoremploys over 75% of the population while formal labour is just above 10%. Government is still to put in place mechanism for the informal sector to pay taxes.
