Africa-Press – Tanzania. THE Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) has written new history in revenue collection by collecting 2.088tr/- in taxes in December 2020, the highest amount it has ever collected since its inception.
The amount collected is equivalent to 101 per cent of the target which was pegged at 2.072tr/-.
In doing so, the taxman has for the first half of the financial year 2020/2021 collected a total of 9.983tr/-, which is almost half of the target for the current financial year, that was 23tr/-.
This were disclosed by the TRA Commissioner General, Dr Edwin Mhede yesterday in a press conference, saying in the first six months of the financial year (2020/21 YF), they have managed to increase the average of its monthly collections.
According to him, the average collections for the last six months in the first half of the current financial year has increased to 1.664tr/- per month from 1.5tr/- that was recorded in the corresponding period in the financial year 2019/2020.
“Recording this achievement isn’t an overnight process, it’s a result of good guidance from the Ministry of Finance and Planning, commitment and teamwork within TRA, as well as proper foundations that were set by those who were working here before us,” he said.
The improved awareness among taxpayers and the strengthened collection systems were also mentioned as among the key attributes.
Speaking on the commitment and teamwork within TRA, Dr Mhede said all the departments did their jobs well, resulting in the increase in collection, pledging continued effort to set another record in future.
Speaking of the collection target for the year 2020/2021, the Commissioner General was optimistic that the goal will be met, given the ongoing cooperation between taxpayers, government as well as the commitment from TRA officials.
Expounding further, the TRA boss said in December 2020, the department of Large Taxpayers surpassed its target by collecting 1tr/-, as the department of customs and excise collected 97 per cent of its target, where taxes from medium and small taxpayers was collected by 88 per cent of the goal.
He was of the view that there is a great contribution from the department of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), because it has been at the forefront in designing different systems that have facilitated the process of paying taxes “To make things easier, we shall continue focusing on the use of ICT aimed at simplifying ways of paying tax, and this is a direction that TRA should go,” he pointed out.
He also acknowledged the role that was played by TRA’s department of Tax Investigation that came up with the suggestions that helped the taxman to collect 50bn/- within a short time.
Adding “More thanks go to taxpayers for complying with the requirement of the law, and financial institutions that have been facilitating the process”.
Going forward, the taxman reminded all taxpayers to continue adhering to the law regulations, maintaining that dodgers were at a high risk of facing the law.
In another development, Dr Mhede reminded employers to keep submitting to Pay As You Earn (Payee) deductions of their employees to TRA to avoid unnecessary inconveniences.
