Africa-Press – Tanzania. THE government has warned business men who are not using Electronic Fiscal Devices (EFD), saying they risk facing the law, including being sentenced up to three years in jail.
It said strong measures will be taken to traders and buyers who don’t comply with the requirement of the law, since they are playing a part in denying the government its collections.
The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance and Planning, Mr Doto James issued the warning yesterday shortly after the Commissioner General of Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA), Dr Edwin Mhede announced the collections of the first half of the financial year 2020/21.
Mr James, apart from commending the taxman for improving collection from a monthly average of 850bn/- in December 2015 to the current 1.664tr/-, said still more effort is needed to increase the collections.
“Still we aren’t impressed by the rate at which the EFD machines are being used in different transactions, there is a lot of cheating…the government is working on it and a permanent solution is around the corner,” he said.
According to him, it is against the law for any trader to avoid using EFD machines in his or her business, refuse to issue a receipt, issue a fake receipt, tampering with the machine or running the business without the device.
“If found guilty of this, the businessman will be at risk of facing a penalty of between 3m/- and 4.5m/-, three years in jail or both,” he said, adding that the buyer who doesn’t demand for a receipt will face a fine of between 30,000/- and 1.5m/-.
In another development, the PS said that the government is working hard to ensure it collects the right amount from the right people, and that none of the taxpayers will be forced to pay above the amount required by law.
According to him, the government is determined to ensure justice to all taxpayers and legal procedures will be taken against any dishonest TRA officials.
“And the same will apply to dishonest business men who don’t want to pay tax,” he explained.
Earlier, the TRA boss, Dr Mhede said Dodoma Tax region surpassed its target after collecting 17bn/- in December last year, which is equivalent to 127 per cent of the target.
According to him, Dodoma has done better despite the challenges of low usage of EFD machines, and that already the tax authority has started to take measures to ensure effective use of the device.
“It was followed by the Kariakoo Tax region that collected 113 per cent of its target, however more effort is needed in the area because there is a great potential for the collections to go high,” he said.
Dr Mhede added that there are TRA small taxes regions such as Mtwara and Rukwa that have also surpassed their targets, and that those efforts are underway to ensure all regions perform better in their collections.
