By STEVEN ZANDE –
THE Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) has started distributing electronic fiscal devices (EFD) which will compel business outlets to issue customers with tax receipts whenever they buy a product from their shop.
This is under a pilot project running from January to June this year which will see 2,000 EFDs distributed to shop owners in Lusaka, Kitwe and Ndola to ensure businesses account for sales recorded to facilitate comprehensive tax collection.
Commissioner – domestic taxes – Moses Shuko said the gadgets, which would replace cash registers, would enhance ZRA’s ability to mobilise domestic revenue.
“This is one of the measures that will improve domestic revenue mobilisation. It will enable us to mope up and collect all the taxes,” Mr Shuko said.
He said this in Kamwala trading area yesterday after the ZRA disbursed five EFDs to TADMORE Zambia Limited which operates five retail shops in different parts of Lusaka.
Mr Shuko said most businesses had not been consistent in issuing tax invoices, hence the measure would improve tax compliance and strengthen ZRA’s revenue collection from traders.
He urged citizens to demand a tax invoice each time they bought a product from a shop as this was vital to ensuring shop owners complied with the country’s tax regulations.
Mr Shuko said citizens should inform authorities when businesses did not issue such receipts, saying ZRA would provide training to beneficiary business entities to ensure they operated efficiently.
TADMORE Zambia Limited director Hussein Daka welcomed the development because the EFD would help businesses compete evenly because all players would be required to pay Value Added Tax (VAT).
Mr Daka said in the past, businesses that imported goods paid taxes while their counterparts that bought the goods locally did not pay certain taxes and this resulted in unfair pricing and unfair competition.
Among other features, receipts issued from EFDs would contain a shop address, the owner’s T-Pin number, the item sold, the amount it was sold and the date of the transaction.