TANZANIA REVENUE AUTHORITY COLLECTIONS UP BY 8.45%

TRA’s Director for Taxpayer Services and Education, Mr Richard Kayombo.

Revenue collection for the first half of FY 2017/2018 peaked at 7.87trl/-, an increase of 8.45 per cent against 7.27trl/- recorded in the corresponding period during FY 2016/2017.

In December, 2017 the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) collected taxes amounting to 1.66trl/- as compared to 1.41trl/- which was collected in December, 2016, representing an increase of 17.65 per cent.

Speaking at a news conference in Dar es Salaam yesterday, TRA’s Director for Taxpayer Services and Education, Mr Richard Kayombo (pictured), also explained that tax collections in November 2017 stood at 1.26trl- against 1.12tr/- collected in November 2016.

During the period under review, it was only in September, 2017 that revenue collection stood at 1.34trl/-, which was -2.37 per cent short of 1.37trl/- collected during the same month in 2016.

Mr Kayombo praised taxpayers for enabling TRA to raise the funds, noting on the other hand that the tax collector is now embarking on a nationwide campaign to register taxpayers in which the Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) is issued free of charge.

The executive as well urged owners of buildings to pay property taxes before deadline to avoid long queues since many people tend to rush to make payments when the closing date is approaching.

“The property tax is paid once per annum and this is the best time to pay since we have only six months left in this financial year, people should not wait until May or June because there will be many people rushing to pay,” he urged.

Mr Kayombo also urged customers to demand for receipts for goods and services they purchase while traders on their part ought to issue the documents to their customers. Speaking in October last year, Mr Kayombo was upbeat that the taxman would meet the target of collecting 17.1trl/- in taxes which is the target of the current financial year.

During the start of financial year 2017/2018 in July last year, collections by TRA stood at 1.1tri/- while in August it increased to 1.2tri/-. During the previous fiscal year 2016/2017, Mr Kayombo said that the authority had collected 34bn/- countrywide as property tax.

Daily News