TODAY we continue looking at the introduction of tax online by the Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) and specifically look at the running effect this system has brought on Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the short term.
Speaking at the launch of tax online at ZRA training centre in Chelstone last year prior to  October 28, 2013 the official date for rolling out tax online, ZRA commissioner general Berlin Msiska alluded to the fact that taxpayers will now be able to conduct their tax affairs on the e-business platform.
This would be done from registration of new taxpayers, filing of returns through to making electronic payments through banks partnering with ZRA.
The tax online which is the web-based e-service is envisaged to improve the effectiveness of interaction with taxpayers online which will be 24 hours a day and seven days a week.
This will enable the authority to quickly check, analyse and audit the taxpayers’ register effectively within the shortest period of time leading to total compliance on the part of taxpayers.
Six months down the line, the tax online was rolled out and the queues at ZRA advise centre here in Lusaka and presumably elsewhere at ZRA offices throughout the country have not relented.
ZRA projects team tasked with the rolling out of tax online in conjunction with TATA consultancy services from India have gone out to explain the tax online procedures to the taxpayers including the posting of the manual guides on the launched web portal www,zra.org.zm
But the queues at the advise centre are still visible, making it the busiest place in recent times.
My main interest as usual is the effect this system is posing on SMEs in the short term, not forgetting that the effect in the long-term will be beneficial to both the taxpayers and the authority itself in the sense that once the e-business becomes fully acquainted with by the taxpayers it will decongest the area.
The e-services launched on the web portal www,zra.org.zm include e-registraion, e-filing, e-communication, e-amendment, e-payment among others which have not been fully understood by the SMEs.
Due to these limitations, the advise centre is very busy because the SMEs need knowledge in this direction and are frequenting the tax office for the same.
Another contributing factor to the congestion at the advice centre in Lusaka and probably elsewhere in the country is that most SMEs are unable to file returns online as expected of them by the tax office.
Whereas before the introduction of tax online, the payment and the returns were made together at the cash office, the introduction of tax online which separates e-filing and e-payment has made SMEs to go to the centre to file returns.
Because the authority has not concluded negotiations for the taxpayers to begin making payments on line.
It must be pointed out to SMEs that the filing of returns is independent to making payments and any late filing of returns and late payments attracts penalties individually.
This means that even if a payment is made before the due date and filing of a return after the due date, the return will attract penalties, while the payment will not.
ZRA has more than 200,000 registered taxpayers in the ZRA data base and three quarters of these are SMEs.
The introduction of tax online puts much challenge on SMEs in the sense that they are expected to relate with ZRA on line.
For a taxpayer to do e-business with ZRA, he must first have a computer and secondly must be connected to the internet at a fee.
However, according to the survey that I have conducted in my interaction with them, most SMEs have no computers and those who have are not connected to internet facilities.
Others are not skilled in computer and internet usage. And because of these challenges it has become very difficult for SMEs to understand of their requirements from the tax office,
ZRA must step up efforts to educate this sector on tax online to ensure that it achieves its objectives in the long run.
This column has from time to time pointed out the tax type in which most of the SMEs are categorised as Voluntary Value Added Tax(VAT),Turnover Tax(TOT) Pay As You Earn(PAYE),Presumptive Tax, Withholding Tax, Income Tax Individual, Income Tax Partnership and Income tax Company and the e-return forms are found on the ZRA web portal for submitting online.
Equally for SMEs, who would want to register their businesses online for tax purposes, the e-registration forms are found on the web portal.
Lastly I would like to urge the SMEs to acquire computers and have internet connectivity in order to relate with ZRA on tax online issues.
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