By HELEN ZULU
THE Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) has said it will swing into action immediately after the expiry of the tax amnesty on interest and penalties.
The authority offered the amnesty on interest and penalties to taxpayers since April 2017 which expires on July 31 2017.
ZRA corporate communications manager Topsy Sikalinda said the authority was set to commence the tax enforcement immediately after the expiry of the amnesty this monthend.
Mr Sikalinda said ZRA had since procured 40 brand new vehicles to be used for tax enforcement immediately after the end of the amnesty on interest and penalties.
He said in an interview in Lusaka that the vehicles would be distributed this week to all ZRA provincial stations specifically for tax enforcement aimed at collecting all taxes due to the authority on behalf of the Government.
“As ZRA we offered tax amnesty on interest and penalties to taxpayers since April and this will expire on July, 31 2017 which is a few days away.
“Thereafter, we are getting into an enforcement gear immediately after the expiry hence our decision to buy these vehicles to ease our movements as we execute this enforcement,” Mr Sikalinda said.
He said during the enforcement exercise, ZRA would use various methods of collecting taxes such as garnishing, seizures and many other ways at the authority’s disposal.
Mr Sikalinda said the role of ZRA was to collect taxes on behalf of Government, and tax collection had two basic principles which were compliance and enforcement.
He said taxpayers who had not applied for the amnesty on interest and penalties were, therefore, encouraged to do so before the initiative came to an end before next Monday to avoid being inconvenienced.
“Taxpayers who cannot liquidate the taxes now have an opportunity to enter into time-to-pay agreements that can be spread over time up to December 2017 based on their cash flows.
“But they have to sign these time-to-pay agreements before the amnesty expires on July 31, 2017,” Mr Sikalinda said.