Africa-Press – Malawi. The Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) says its digital tax stamp system is transforming tax collection — plugging leakages, forcing compliance, and delivering a sharp rise in government revenue.
MRA Head of Corporate Affairs, Wilma Chalulu, said the shift to the digital “Kalondola” system has significantly improved domestic excise compliance while choking illicit trade that once thrived under weak oversight.
“This is a game-changer,” Chalulu said. “By making digital tax stamps mandatory, we have compelled previously informal manufacturers to register and operate within the law.”
The impact, she stressed, has been dramatic.
Excise tax revenues in the alcoholic beverages sector have surged by between 500 and 600 percent, with non-alcoholic beverages showing similar upward momentum — a clear signal that the system is capturing revenue that was previously slipping through the cracks.
Before the rollout, Chalulu admitted, MRA depended on a self-assessment model that left room for manipulation.
“Manufacturers could underreport production with little consequence. We had minimal control over actual volumes,” she explained.
That era, she said, is over.
The Kalondola system now uses a track-and-trace mechanism that links MRA directly with manufacturers in real time — boosting transparency, strengthening accountability, and giving authorities full visibility over production levels.
The result is a tighter tax net, a shrinking informal sector, and a stronger revenue base for the government.
In simple terms: what was once hidden is now visible — and taxable.
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