.Yamba

By CLEVER ZULU –

GOVERNMENT has warned shop owners and traders against avoiding paying taxes by not issuing receipts to customers.
Secretary to the Treasury Fredson Yamba said the Government is concerned with emerging incidences of avoidance of tax obligations by some shop operators and traders.
“Of specific concern over the last few months is the retail sector, whereby several traders have entrenched the habit of selling goods without issuing cash-register receipts to buyers,” Mr Yamba said.
Mr Yamba said the Government does not want to continue losing the revenue which is needed to fulfill the promises made by leaders during the Presidential election campaign trail.
He said to amalgamate the resource-base for financing employment creation, poverty reduction and social sector programmes, it was the duty of every person in a business which meets the relevant threshold, to issue official sale receipts and keep proper sales records.
This is according to a statement released in Lusaka yesterday by Ministry of Finance public relations officer Chileshe Kandeta.
Mr Yamba said that the action to request for receipts from shop owners and traders when purchases are made by customers was a civic duty and a very important manifestation of patriotism.
“Excuses from eligible shop owners for not using cash registers and, therefore, any departure from this requirement will no longer be tolerated,” he has warned.
Mr Yamba has appealed to the general public to be vigilant and join in guarding public resources by ensuring that as much as possible, receipts generated from cash registers were obtained from shop operators and traders so that the correct tax revenue is collected for the benefit of society.
“When traders do not issue receipts, we end up with low VAT collections from the retail and that’s inconsistent with the Government’s vision to improve tax collections for accelerated development,” he said.