Africa-Press – Botswana. Botswana Unified Revenue Service (BURS) made a call for all individual taxpayers to submit their returns for the tax year July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2024, declaring their tax obligation for the year ended June 30, 2024.
Addressing a press conference in Gaborone on Tuesday, BURS Commissioner General, Ms Jeanette Makgolo, said for this season the filing requirements remain unchanged, all individuals with a gross income more than P480 000 per annum were required to file a tax return.
Ms Makgolo said individuals whose gross income was less than P480 000 per annum were not required to file their tax returns on the following conditions, provided their total income: arises solely from employment, was from a single employer, and deducted by the employer as Pay As You Earn (PAYE).
Notably, Ms Makgolo said, for the previous tax Year 2023, a total number of 38 000 tax returns were filed against the expected 70 000 tax returns. Of those filed returns, 77 per cent were submitted online.
“It is important to note that individuals with multiple sources of income; (which includes employment income) are required to file returns even if their total gross income is less than P480 000 per annum. If you were employed for less than 12 months in the tax year, you are also required to file. If you have changed by moving from one employer to another, you are also required to file,” she added.
Ms Makgolo said this filing dispensation does not affect the requirement to register for income tax by all those whose income exceeds the threshold of P480 000 per annum.
She reminded employers to submit tax returns of the amounts deducted from their employees for the tax year ended June 30, 2024, by July 31, 2024, citing that this would enable employees to access and download their Tax Certificates (ITW8) from their system.
Ms Makgolo said BURS had leveraged technology to improve and simplify voluntary compliance to the process of fulfilling filing tax returns.
She said the initiative ensured wider outreach, inclusivity, and coverage, thereby, reducing the burden on taxpayers to comply with their tax obligations.
She encouraged taxpayers to file their returns through their e-services and Mtax App which were more convenient and efficient to both parties.
Ms Makgolo added that BURS has introduced self-services kiosks at its major service centres which provide an opportunity for those without access to computers to be trained on how to file online.
Further to this, she said BURS has introduced free WIFI connectivity for taxpayers with computers to connect and file online.
“In the next few months, BURS will be rolling out the WIFI connectivity to all its inland offices and ports of entry to ensure that taxpayers can access all e-services anytime and anywhere. Taxpayers will no longer be limited to consuming BURS services during working hours but at their convenience,” she said.
She said they had optimised their systems to handle increased traffic, advanced security protocols to protect clients tax information, and introduced various other improvements aimed at providing greater efficiency to the filing process.
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